


Me, Her, And The Moon

by Star55



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/F, Girl Direction, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Louis and Liam are sisters, Mates, Medium violence, Murder, Slurs, Werewolf Mates, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-06-23 19:16:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 56,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19707748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Star55/pseuds/Star55
Summary: All Louis wants to do is survive secondary school and her A Levels, be the best sister that she can possibly be to her five sisters, and train as hard as possible to be her family’s future alpha. She doesn’t expect to meet her mate on the first day of school and have her entire world changed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is _loosely_ based in the Teen Wolf universe, but not really. You don’t need to know anything about that universe other than werewolves exist. 
> 
> This is the werewolf fic I've always wanted to write and finally did in 9 days in February this year.
> 
> Massive thank you to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - I love you both so much. And thank you to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick. 
> 
> I will be posting a chapter every Sunday until the fic is complete. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

Louis shuts off the engine of her car, but doesn’t take the keys from the ignition. She unclasps her seatbelt and turns to look at her sisters.

“I know Mum just talked to us about this, but it bears repeating,” she begins. “Secondary school is _different_ , okay?”

Lottie sighs heavily from the backseat. “I _know_ , Louis,” she says. “I’m eleven, I’m not a kid anymore.”

It takes all of Louis’ strength not to roll her eyes at that.

“What Louis is trying to say is that it’s different for us,” Liam interjects, ever the diplomat. She shoots Louis a small smile. “Kids… Well, they smell different now.”

“I _know_ all of this,” Lottie insists. She unclasps her seatbelt and it slides back into place with a thud. “Unlike _you_ both, _I_ spent my summer hanging out with my friends. I know what kids smell like.”

Louis sighs. “I know you do, Lotts,” she says, softer this time. “And your control is _amazing_ , but you need to keep yourself in check, okay? And if you feel yourself losing control, come and _find me_. Alright?”

Lottie must sense the urgency in Louis’ voice because she’s nodding. “Can I go now? I see my friends.”

“Yeah,” Louis replies with a nod. “Meet me back here at the end of the day, alright?”

“Alright. Bye!” She’s out of the car before Louis can even blink, reminding her of just how _fast_ Lottie is when she wants to be. Louis has a feeling that she is going to have a hard time keeping up with her this year. 

It’s Lottie’s first year of secondary school – Louis remembers just how hard it can be. Her first year was only made bearable by Liam being by her side. She’s lucky that they’re the same age and had some lessons they shared, but it can get completely overwhelming. Being a pre-pubescent teen is overwhelming enough without everything else they deal with on top of that. 

“You need to have a little more faith in her,” Liam says as she unclasps her own seatbelt.

Louis rips the keys from the ignition. “I _do_ ,” she insists, not meeting Liam’s gaze. She knows exactly what expression Liam is undoubtedly pulling. “It’s _everyone else_ that I don’t trust.”

“She’ll be fine, Louis. She’s got us. We’re both going to be here for the next two years – she’ll be fine.”

Louis sighs heavily. She rubs a hand over her face. She can feel her stomach tense with anxiety, and it’s not just first day jitters. 

“C’mon, we’re going to be late.” She reaches for her door handle, but Liam’s hand on her arm stops.

“Say it with me,” she says, her voice insistent. A tone that Louis has rarely been able to ignore throughout their lives. Liam may be younger, but she grounds Louis in ways that only their mum can.

“Alpha, beta, omega,” Louis mumbles. Liam’s eyes flash at her, and Louis’ own flash in response. “I hate that saying. I don’t see why we don’t use the truth one.”

Liam’s crinkly-eyed grin never fails to make Louis smile. They both get out of the car. “That’s because teaching a phrase like that to a bunch of little kids is harder. Ours is just three words – they’re easier to remember.” She slings her arm across Louis’ shoulders and pulls her in close. She kisses the side of Louis’ head rather noisily and then lets her go.

“C’mon, let’s go face all the boring shit that comes with the first day of school.”

They make their way through the crowds of students milling about, everyone looking so boringly similar in their uniforms. It’s a sunny day, and they make their way to the quad where some of their friends are undoubtedly hanging out. 

People greet them as they walk by – saying hello and the standard ‘how was your summer?’ to which Liam and Louis answer that it was good. It’s always odd to be surrounded by so many people after spending the majority of summer holidays with just their family. 

The smells never fail to make Louis falter, and tend to give her a headache for the first half of the day until she can refocus her senses properly. If Louis hadn’t spent her entire life being a werewolf, days like this would be hard. It takes all of her strength to just focus on what she needs to, to drown out the excessive noise, the excited sounds and squeals of the students that surround them. She focuses on Liam’s heartbeat, sure and steady in her chest. Liam isn’t nervous, not like Louis is. It’s comforting, knowing that Liam is so certain about everything. She wishes that it was the same for herself.

“Oi, oi, Tommo!” 

Louis can’t help but grin as a familiar voice fills her ears. She braces as Niall flings herself at Louis, knowing full well that Louis will catch her. She’s also thankful that she has super strength, because Niall can pack a punch when she puts her mind to it. She keeps her hands under Niall’s thighs, careful of the way she holds her.

“Look at us, the band’s all back together again!”

“Babes, get down.” 

Louis glances over to see Zayn standing behind Niall, an amused expression on her face. Louis just saw her on Friday and she’s gone and had a haircut. One side of her head is shaved, the longer strands of hair are dyed a light purple, and new piercings litter her ear. She catches Louis’ gaze and smirks her trademark smirk. 

“Looking good, Zayn,” Louis comments. She lets Niall down, and Niall immediately plasters herself to Zayn’s side.

“Looks fucking sick, doesn’t it?” Niall says, running her hand over the shaved side of Zayn’s scalp. 

“It’s a bit bold of you, yeah?” Liam says. “Being the first day of school and all of that.”

“Not all of us are anal like you, Li,” Louis teases, slinging her arm around Liam’s shoulders so she knows that Louis is just teasing her. 

“How’s Lottie?” Zayn asks, effectively changing the topic. “Did you give her the talk?”

“She did in the car,” Liam replies, rolling her eyes. Louis pinches her side.

“Lottie’s got great control,” Niall pipes up. “She’ll be fine.”

“I know, I know, I just worry,” Louis replies. She can’t help it. She worries about _all_ of her sisters, Liam included. 

And it’s not even just because she’s the oldest, though that plays a part. There’s a lot of pressure on Louis to be a good leader. When her mum steps down as Alpha, the position goes to _Louis_. Her entire life has been leading up to that moment, and she knows that it isn’t going to happen for a long, _long_ time yet, but she has felt the pressure ever since. She always knew that it was going to be her who was going to be the alpha next, but this last summer, her mum actually said it in words for the first time ever. 

Their family is strictly a matriarchal one, and it’s going to be the biggest honour Louis will ever receive to lead their family one day, but in the meantime, she has to study and train twice as hard as everyone else.

Being a born werewolf helps – it’s something she’s dealt with her entire life. She’s seen what happens to people who are given the Bite and change – some of them don’t like it, even if it saves their lives. 

There’s been the occasional rogue alpha out there who turns people against their will, but for the most part, the people that get the Bite are people that _want_ it and fully know the consequences and understand exactly what it means to be a werewolf.

It makes Louis glad that she was born into it, that it was always going to be a part of her. She isn’t sure how she’d handle it, otherwise. Well, she knows that she’d deal with it as best as she could, but she also knows that it would be a shock to her system. 

She hasn’t met very many Bitten werewolves before, but the ones she has met have told her how vastly different their lives became after receiving the Bite. Her mum hasn’t done it more than half a dozen times in Louis’ life, so her experience with it isn’t what it could be.

It makes Louis think – could _she_ ever give someone the Bite? Would she even want to? She figures that she would. She isn’t exactly sure what to think when it comes to this topic, especially when it’s centred around the fact that maybe one day her sisters will find a partner and they might want the Bite, too. 

Despite Jay only having given the Bite to six people, only one of them remains with their pack – her uncle’s husband. The others, Louis knows, have moved on to other packs across the globe, and according to her mum, are very happy with their lives, but she also knows how hard it was for Jay to let them go.

“They weren’t mine to keep, poppet,” Jay had told her when Louis was younger and there was only Uncle Emmett left. 

Louis knows that it weighed on her mum for a very long time after they left. 

And it’s probably why she’s pregnant again. With twins. _Again_. 

“…Earth to Louis.”

“Huh?” Louis looks up, seeing the amused smiles of her friends and family looking back at her. “What?”

“C’mon, we’ll be late for assembly,” Zayn says.

“What did I miss?” Louis hisses to Liam, knowing full well that her sister can hear her perfectly with their super hearing. The fact that Liam is actively ignoring Louis means that Louis is definitely _not_ going to hold back in training later.

They round the corner and Louis just _stops_.

She can smell something.

Something different. Something… _amazing_. 

She looks around, trying to find the source of the smell. Her tongue darts out to lick her suddenly dry lips. People push passed her, jostling her into moving.

“Lou!” Liam calls out.

Louis picks up her pace, making it back to Liam’s side quicker than anyone else would’ve been able to.

“What’s going on with you today?” Liam asks, taking Louis’ hand.

“I smelled something,” Louis replies in a low voice. Her gaze darts about again, trying to locate the beautiful scent.

“Something _other_ than teenage boys who think only one can of deodorant isn’t enough to spray on themselves each morning?” Liam asks.

They sit down together, Zayn and Niall close by, but not within earshot. 

“Something… something _good_ ,” Louis replies. “I’ve never smelled anything like it before.”

Liam gives her an odd look. “Something good? C’mon, Lou, focus. We have to get through today, just like everyone else.”

Louis huffs. Liam is right – not that she’d tell her that, of course. Liam loves being right. But Louis focuses her attention on their principal, and whatever teachers decide to give welcoming speeches to their entire school. 

“Are you going to be alright?” Liam asks once the assembly has finished. People mill about them, everyone moving in different directions to get to their registration rooms. She and Liam are in different registration rooms, of course, but Louis is sharing one with Niall, so that’s something at least.

“Yeah, of course,” Louis replies. She gives Liam what she hopes is a reassuring smile, and catches glimpse of Niall just before she slings her arm around Louis’ neck.

“C’mon, Tommo!” she cheers. “Bye, Liam! We’ll see you later.”

She barely sees Liam’s worried look as they part ways. 

Liam was six when she became a member of their family. 

Louis remembers the night well.

Liam’s entire family had been brutally murdered by hunters. Jay and Karen, Liam’s mum, had been best friends in their university days, and had even been pregnant at the same time with Louis and Liam. They were friends from birth, and sisters in all but DNA. 

Karen’s husband was a human, and only two of their children had been born werewolves. Liam was one of them. 

One particularly aggressive hunter, who had followed Geoff and Karen for more than a week trying to get to know them, decided that he didn’t like their kind, and had killed them all. It wasn’t an easy win for him. He had brought reinforcements with him in the form of mountain ash and flaming arrows. 

Liam, who had been sleeping over at Louis’ that same night, had woken up when she heard her family howling. Liam hadn’t shown signs of being a werewolf just yet – they didn’t usually exhibit signs until they hit about eight years old, but that night, her wolf had come out in full force.

Louis remembers waking up with Liam crashing about the bedroom, trying to get out. She remembers Liam sobbing the entire time, and in the end, she ran barefoot through the woods to try and get to her family. 

It had been Louis who found Liam standing with a corpse at her feet, blood coating her hands, it dripping down her claws, and her eyes shining blue in the darkness. Even at six years old, Louis knew what blue eyes meant. 

But she had taken Liam in her arms, held her close while she howled at the loss of her family, and while her own mum howled, too. 

Jay had taken Liam from Louis, flashed her red eyes at Liam and Liam’s eyes flashed blue in response to her alpha.

Liam has always had undeniable power and strength. Her control was incredible, and her focus unlike anyone else that Louis has ever seen. 

If Louis is honest – it’s Liam that should be the alpha when Jay steps down.

When Louis asked Jay over the summer, Jay had just given her a soft smile, flashed her red eyes at Louis and told her that Louis was the leader that their family would need.

~*~

Classes on the first day are pretty boring.

That’s not new, but it never fails to leave Louis feeling agitated. She wants to be _doing_ things. It probably doesn’t help that it’s a few days from being a full moon, so her wolf is scratching to be let out and let roam free. God, she can’t _wait_ to turn and run with her family at the weekend.

They’ve just had their first break of the day, and Louis is about to head to English Literature, one of her favourite classes ever. Zayn is in this class with her, and she finds Louis at her locker so they can walk together.

“How was–” Zayn trails off, her perfect eyebrows furrowing for a moment. Louis is used to this. Zayn has psychic abilities, and has been training with the Tomlinson pack emissary to hone her abilities. 

“Alright?” Louis asks, keeping her gaze trained on Zayn’s face.

Zayn’s gaze snaps back to Louis. “Yeah,” she says with a nod. “Yeah.”

“Anything I need to know about?”

Zayn smirks. “Not at all.”

Louis huffs. There are few things she hates more than being kept in the dark. She loves knowing things, knowing secrets. And she _especially_ loves knowing what Zayn sees in her visions.

“C’mon, we’ll be late,” Zayn says, tugging on Louis’ hand. “You’ve got extra pens, don’t you?”

“…Yes,” Louis says warily, but she follows Zayn anyway. 

They make their way to their classroom, and Zayn sits in the seat closest to the window. She likes sitting towards the back of the classroom, and Louis doesn’t mind that either. The seats quickly fill with their classmates, their noise grating on Louis’ nerves for half a second before she smells that smell again. 

She whips her head up, scenting the air subtly. Her gaze darts around the room, trying to locate the source of the smell. She spots a curly haired girl walking through the room. She sits down directly in front of Louis and immediately starts rummaging through her bag. Louis can hear her muttering to herself, and her heart all but stops in her chest when the girl turns around and looks hopefully at Louis.

“Hey, do you have a pen I can borrow?” she asks, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

Louis nods dumbly. She passes over the pen in her hand and the girl gives her a dazzling smile. 

“Thanks!” she says. “I’m Harry.”

Louis opens her mouth but nothing comes out. Zayn kicks her. “Louis. I’m Louis.”

Harry smiles brilliantly at her again. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m new here.”

 _Blink, you idiot_ , Louis’ brain hisses at her. “I’m not.” She swallows thickly. “I mean, this is my school. I mean…” she takes a breath, and inadvertently inhales Harry’s sweet, sweet scent again. “I’ve always gone to school here.”

“Really?” Harry asks. “Do you think maybe you could show me around a bit? I got lost earlier and ended up in a corridor that I’m pretty sure smelled like boys’ socks.”

Louis nods. “Y-yeah, I can definitely show you around.”

“Thanks.”

Their teacher clears her throat and calls out, getting everyone’s attention. Louis has no idea what happens for the entire class because she’s pretty sure she just found her mate.

~*~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're both angels! ♥

After English, Louis stumbles her way through telling Harry where to meet her for lunch so they could sit together, and bless Harry’s sweet self, she patiently listened to Louis’ botched instructions, and even better, met her. 

“This is Harry,” Louis says as she sits down. Niall and Liam already have a table, and Zayn slips into the empty spot next to Niall, who greets her with a soft kiss.

“Hey, Harry, I’m Liam. That’s Niall, and I assume you’ve already met Zayn?”

Harry nods. “I have, we’re in English together. Louis was a lifesaver and she gave me a pen.”

Louis’ heart thuds in her chest when Harry smiles at her. Liam quirks her head in Louis’ direction. She knows that Liam can hear the change in her heartbeat. She wipes her sweaty hands on her uniform and tries to control her breathing. Liam gives her one last wary look before turning her attention to Harry again, asking her questions that Louis can’t really concentrate on properly.

She’s always liked girls, so that was never going to be the issue. The issue is that she never really expected to meet Harry _now_. Louis wants to survive secondary school in one piece, and now that’s all gone out the window because all she can think of is Harry’s crazy, _intoxicating_ scent and whether or not she’s into girls, too.

The conversation keeps going around her. She hears Harry’s laughter. She throws her head back at something that Niall says, and Louis can’t tear her gaze away from her long neck. She feels her pulse spike, and her fingers ache all of a sudden. 

Shit.

Shit, shit, _shit_.

Not since she was a young wolf has Louis lost control like this.

Thankfully, she has Liam, who immediately senses the change in Louis, and hastily makes an excuse for them. She all but drags Louis to the closest toilets and Louis stumbles for the sink, clinging onto it with a grip that is far too tight for the porcelain. 

“We’re alone,” Liam says. She’s at Louis’ side, her hand on Louis’ back. “Talk to me, Lou. What’s going on? Did Zayn see something?”

Louis struggles to breathe. She can feel the warmth of Liam’s hand on her back and she’s trying with all of her might to focus on that and that alone, but her senses are in overdrive. She can feel her teeth elongating, and the pricks at the ends of her fingers indicate that her claws are definitely coming out. 

“Fuck.” Liam turns on the tap in front of Louis and reaches under it, splashing her face. “Louis, c’mon, focus.”

“C-can’t,” she slurs, water dribbling into her mouth. She’s panting heavily, her vision is shifting and she can feel her body _aching_ to change. She wants to tear off her brand new uniform, rip it to shreds, and just _run_.

“Say it with me,” Liam commands, her voice firm. Louis latches onto it. “Alpha. Beta. Omega.”

Louis struggles to even get through ‘alpha’. 

Someone bangs on the door and Liam growls under her breath. The person on the other side gives up, but Louis knows that it’s only so long before a teacher comes to investigate why the door is locked in the first place. Which sends Louis into a deeper panic. She can’t do this – she can’t be outed at school. It would be the end of the world for their family.

Liam grabs Louis by her shoulders and forces her to look at her, her eyes flashing blue. Louis’ flash gold in response. 

“What three things cannot long be hidden?”

Louis concentrates. “The sun… the moon… the truth….”

“What three things cannot long be hidden? Say it with me, Louis!”

Louis swallows. Her mouth feels dry. “The sun… the moon… the truth…”

Liam repeats the question once more and Louis closes her eyes, feeling her body physically shift back into her human form. She stands there, clinging to Liam in the middle of the toilets, trying not to sob with relief. 

“What’s going on in there? Open this door right now!”

Louis clings for a moment longer, her nose buried in Liam’s neck, scenting her. 

“Are you alright?” Liam asks, ignoring the banging on the door. 

Louis nods. “Yeah,” she replies. She looks at her reflection in the mirror. She looks wrecked. She takes a breath. “Harry’s my mate.”

Liam’s mouth falls open. “ _Fuck_.”

~*~

Being scented by her family is one of Louis’ first memories. One that she loves and remembers with fondness. She remembers being little and coming home from her first day of school and her mum burying her nose in Louis’ neck, scenting her. She remembers giggling into her mum’s neck, trying to do the same, despite not having any proper wolf powers at that time. It’s something they’ve always done – it’s as comforting as it is a form of bonding with her family.

And it’s also a way for Jay to get whatever information she wants out of them.

So Louis avoids her when they get home from school.

She locks herself in her room, claiming homework, despite having none, and she pulls out her journal. And she writes. And writes. And writes until her hand cramps and she’s stretching her fingers. She extends her claws, enjoying their familiarity and shape, flexing her fingers to and fro, stretching out the cramp.

She undresses, takes off the shirt and trousers she threw on after taking off her uniform the second she got home. There’s a slight breeze coming through her open window, and Louis just wants to be outside.

She closes her eyes and lets herself transform. The wolf takes over, reshaping her entire body until she is the wolf completely. She arches her back, leaps through the window, and lands on all four paws on the soft grass. She hears giggles, sees her little twin sisters playing and makes her way over to them. 

Daisy pats the top of Louis’ head and Louis licks her hand. Phoebe presses her face into Louis’ neck and pats her once before moving back. She hears the backdoor open and sees Liam’s face before she’s dashing off into the woods. 

There is nothing on this earth that makes Louis feel freer than running through the woods in her wolf form. She has fun with it. She chases birds, rolls around in some fallen leaves, scratches at a thick tree with her claws and just succumbs to the wolf. She definitely needs it after today. 

She trots along, snout in some foliage when she hears something. Her hackles rise. Someone is out here when they shouldn’t be. She makes her way towards the sound as quietly as possible. She’s not a coyote, but she knows how to tiptoe so she doesn’t make a sound – it’s something Jay taught her the second Louis shifted into her full wolf form for the first time.

The land Louis’ family lives on is private property, and the property is _huge_. They own the majority of the woods, so whoever is out here is trespassing.

A voice startles her. Then the scent follows. Even after only being exposed to it for one day, Louis would recognise that scent _anywhere_.

It takes all of her strength not to run after it – to run after Harry, to chase her down and lay her head on Harry’s body. To let her know that Louis is _hers_ , wholly and completely hers. 

She’s so caught up in the fact that Harry is _nearby_ that she doesn’t notice Harry’s footsteps getting closer.

“Oh!” Harry exclaims. She goes completely still. 

And that’s right. Louis is in her wolf form. 

Wolves don’t exist in England. 

Shit. Shit, shit, _shit_. 

This is bad. This is so very, very bad. This is the first rule – don’t get seen (or caught). And Louis has broken it. Her mum is never going to forgive her.

Louis stands still, watching Harry. She has no idea how Harry is going to react to this, and Louis is a bit too far from the house right now to call out and have one of her pack come and back her up in case anything goes wrong.

“Gosh, you’re beautiful,” Harry says. Louis can’t help but preen. She sits back on her haunches, and looks up at Harry. She knows her wolf form is huge and intimidating, but Harry doesn’t seem too scared. In fact, she inches closer to Louis. Her hand shakes as it reaches out and Louis stays very, very still. 

The second Harry’s hand connects with the fur on Louis’ head, she wants to sing. She wants to show Harry her belly, loll her head to the side and let Harry know that she’s got all of the power here.

Which is absolutely not what she should be doing. Louis shouldn’t have even approached Harry to begin with. The moment she heard movement, she should’ve turned around and gone straight home and alerted her mum to the fact that someone was trespassing on their property. 

But she’s here now, and Harry’s hand is soft where it strokes over the top of Louis’ head. Her scent fills Louis’ nostrils, completely overtaking her. She wants to jump up and down, roll around, and play with Harry until neither of them can play any longer. But she doesn’t. She makes a soft noise and pushes her head further into Harry’s hand. 

Harry gasps. Her eyes go wider than they already were, and she lets out a giggle.

A noise behind them startles Louis. She’s on all fours before Harry’s hand even drops from the top of her head. She focuses her senses, hyper aware of every single movement around her. She bares her teeth, ready to attack whatever it is that is disturbing them. 

A squirrel appears from behind a tree. It gives them a look before scampering off.

Louis wants to growl at it, but she refrains. She turns to face Harry again, who is looking at her with an expression Louis can’t quite decipher. She butts her nose against Harry’s thigh before she takes off in the other direction, heading back towards home.

The run home goes a lot quicker than Louis expects it to. Her adrenaline runs high. High with being in her wolf form, but high from being close to Harry, too. She can’t stop smiling. She leaps through her bedroom window and shifts back into her human form. She stretches, rolling out her muscles. It always feels odd for a few minutes after transforming back.

She’s just pulled on her clothes when her bedroom door opens and she’s face to face with her mum.

“So…When were you going to tell me you found your mate?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're both angels! ♥

Louis stares at her mum, mouth open, looking every part like the kid who was caught with their hand in the cookie jar. She opens and closes her mouth a few times unable to form words. She barely squeaks when her mum gives her an amused look and steps further into Louis’ room, closing the door behind her.

“Sit,” she says, nodding to Louis’ bed. Louis immediately complies.

Before Louis can even speak, Jay is scenting her. She tilts her head to the side and lets her mum do her stuff. It brings her comfort, this simple action of her mum, her alpha, scent marking her. 

“Right,” Jay says, “tell me everything.”

Louis’ lips twitch. She bites down on her bottom lip. “She’s in my English class,” she begins. She tells her mum about how she had smelled an incredible scent and how that scent belonged to Harry.

“But I don’t know what to do,” Louis says. She didn’t tell her mum about seeing Harry in the woods – she wants to keep that to herself. Just for now, at least.

“With what?”

“I… We’ve just met. I can’t go up to her and be like ‘hey, my wolf thinks you’re my mate, let’s be girlfriends’ because that’s just _weird_ to humans.”

Jay hums. She runs her hand through Louis’ hair, pulling out stray dead leaves from where Louis rolled around in the woods. “Just be her friend.”

Louis makes a noise. “I want to be around her _all the time_ , Mum.”

“Poppet, I get it, believe me.” She runs a hand over her pregnant belly. She isn’t that far along yet – the twins are due in February, but since there’s two babies in there, her stomach is protruding more than it would if there were only one.

With a sigh, Louis tucks her head into the crook of her mum’s neck. “So just be her friend?”

Jay nods. She takes Louis’ hand in her own. “That’s the best place to start with _any_ relationship.”

“I guess,” Louis says. “What if she’s not even into girls?”

Jay chuckles and Louis pulls back, looking at her mum.

“You know, don’t you?” she asks. “Zayn _did_ see something. I _knew_ it!”

Jay just smiles at her. She kisses Louis’ cheek. “Zayn saw her coming, yes,” she replies. “And she let me know straight away. Even if I couldn’t smell the change on you, it was nice to know in advance.”

“I smell different?” Louis asks. She can’t smell her own scent, so she didn’t know that was possible.

Jay nods. “You do.” She runs her hand down the length of Louis’ hair again. “Don’t rush into things, Lou. You’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Alright,” she says, a little dejectedly. Her mum kisses the top of her head and leaves Louis to it. 

“Dinner is in fifteen minutes,” Jay says. “Go wash up and then come set the table, please.”

Louis gets up off her bed with a sigh. She heads to the bathroom she shares with her sisters to clean up before going downstairs. 

The best part about being in such a large pack, is that dinner is always eventful. The focus is off her, and on Daisy and Phoebe, who just started primary school. She can’t believe her baby sisters are old enough to be in school now. She swears her mum was just bringing them home from the hospital yesterday.

The twins and Lottie dominate the conversations throughout the majority of dinner, with only random interjections from Félicité on how her first day of school was. 

After dinner, Louis helps with the dishes, and then retreats to her room. She immediately texts Zayn.

_You could’ve warned me!_ She sends.

_What would be the fun in that?_ Is Zayn’s response.

Louis huffs and throws her phone onto her bed. What is the point of having a psychic best friend if they aren’t even going to give her a heads up when her soulmate is about to walk into her life?

Instead of dwelling on it, Louis gives her little sisters their baths and listens to their chatter. She loves them so much. It’s so easy to get caught up in her own thoughts and life, but being around Daisy and Phoebe just makes things _easy_. They’re so full of life and are so curious and literally never stop chatting.

“Lou,” Daisy says around a yawn once she has them in their pyjamas and ready for bed. “Can you cuddle me as your wolf?”

It’s not something Louis usually indulges them in, but it’s been a long day, even for her. She kisses the tops of her sisters’ heads and says she’ll be right back. She leaves their door ajar and makes her way back to her room where she undresses and shifts. Her paws barely make a noise on the carpeted floor as she wanders back to the twins’ room. She sees they’ve set up a nest of blankets on the floor, and her heart grows inexplicably large in her chest at the sight.

She noses Daisy with her snout and huffs with every giggle that escapes her lips. She curls her body protectively around her sisters, feeling their little heartbeats slow until they’re fast asleep. She’ll regret it in the morning, but she falls asleep with them, warm, safe, and protected.

~*~

“Lou, c’mon, get up.”

Louis blinks open her eyes. She yawns widely, tongue lolling out of her mouth. She looks around and sees that the twins are in their respective beds, cuddling their stuffed wolf teddies tight to their chests. Louis gets up out of the comfortable nest and looks at Liam. She huffs and shifts, closing her eyes as her body transforms back into being human. 

Liam drapes Louis’ dressing gown over her naked body and ties it at the front. She knows how it takes Louis some time to adjust to being human again after being in her wolf form for so long. 

Once her robe is secure, Liam takes her hand and walks Louis to her room. The bed is turned down already, her phone on charge, and her school bag slung over the back of her desk chair. She doesn’t know what she’d do without Liam. Liam takes such good care of her.

“Stay,” Louis mumbles, tugging on Liam’s hand. 

“Put some knickers on at least?” 

Louis rolls her eyes, but complies. She shucks off the robe and pulls on her knickers, and a loose top and climbs into bed. She lies on her side, facing Liam. It’s late. The moon shines bright in the sky. Louis feels it tugging her insides. She loves that moon. Most tales of werewolves say that werewolves fear the moon, fear the change, but not Louis. She loves it. She _lives_ for it. It’s in her essence.

“How’re you feeling?” Liam asks, stroking her hand through Louis’ hair. She scratches at a spot behind Louis’ ear and she feels her eyes close reflexively. 

“Good,” she mumbles, shuffling closer. “I found my mate, Liam… I…” she trails off, fisting her hand in Liam’s pyjama shirt. “God, what if I fuck it up?”

Liam snorts softly. “Lou, you couldn’t even if you tried. It’s inside of you. Besides, you’re a pretty incredible person. And Harry would be lucky to have you as a girlfriend.”

“You know it’s not just going to be her as my girlfriend,” Louis says, finally voicing her fears. “I saw her in the woods.”

Predictably, Liam’s eyes widen. Her hand stills in Louis’ hair. “When? Today? When you were a wolf? Does Mum know?”

Louis nods. “Mum doesn’t know, but, yeah, I saw her today. She’s… Christ, Li… She touched me and I just wanted to go belly up for her. That _isn’t me_.”

Liam removes her hand from Louis’ head and worries at her bottom lip. “She touched you? While you were a wolf?”

Louis nods again. “Yeah. She’s so gentle, too. I… I know I fucked up, though. She saw me as a wolf. And she could tell _anyone_ about it. But I… I couldn’t not see her. Her scent. It’s… it’s everywhere.”

Silence strings between them for a few long moments until Liam shifts, pulling Louis against her chest. Usually it’s Louis holding Liam like this, but this is a nice change, she thinks. 

“You can’t let her see you as a wolf, Lou,” Liam says quietly. Louis can hear the worry in her tone. She knows she fucked up, but it’s always so much harder hearing it from Liam. Liam who exerts so much control, and strength, and rarely messes up with anything. She bites back a sigh.

“I know.”

“I mean… Eventually she’ll find out that you’re a werewolf and hopefully she won’t run screaming–”

“Thanks, I hadn’t even thought of that part.”

Liam gives her an apologetic look. “Our kind don’t have the best track record with humans, you know that. And she could be… She could be related to hunters for all we know.”

Shit. Louis _hadn’t_ thought about that at all. Her wolf was just so happy at finding its mate that she hadn’t even spared a thought for all of the dangers involved with having a human for a mate. 

Panic starts creeping into Louis’ chest, clawing at her lungs like a persistent beast.

“Hey,” Liam says, her voice soft but firm. “Look at me. No panicking, okay?”

Louis nods dumbly, her gaze finding Liam’s. Liam’s eyes flash blue at her, reminding Louis exactly what Liam has lost. Her own eyes flash gold in response. She focuses on Liam’s breathing, the steady rise and fall of her chest. She doesn’t know what she’d do without Liam.

“Be happy, Lou,” Liam whispers, gently cupping Louis’ face with her warm hand. “You found your mate.”

A pang goes through Louis’ chest. “You’ll find yours, too.”

Liam breaks their gaze. “I don’t think so. No one would want to be with an asexual werewolf.”

“Fuck that,” Louis says firmly. “ _I_ would. Sex isn’t everything.”

“Wait until you start having it, then you’ll change your mind.”

Louis scoffs. “Li, if your mate only wants you for sex, then they’re _not_ your mate. Your mate will understand that you don’t desire sex. They will understand that that is who you are, that it’s something you cannot change. And if someone _needs_ sex to be with you, I’ll sort them out.” She lets her teeth grow a little longer, just to get her point across.

Liam snorts, shaking her head. “I’m just scared. I’m a bi-romantic asexual werewolf. That’s enough to freak anyone out.”

Louis cups Liam’s face in her hands and plants kisses all over her. She feels Liam squirming next to her, breath huffing with laughter that she doesn’t want to spill over. 

“The right person won’t mind.”

Liam gives her a sleepy look. “Maybe.” She yawns widely, eyes scrunching closed. Louis couldn’t love her more if she tried. 

“I love you, Li,” she whispers, shifting closer. She laces their fingers together. “You’re the best sister a girl could ask for.”

She feels the happy rumble in Liam’s chest and smiles, falling asleep moments later.

~*~

The first thing Louis does upon stepping out of her car the next morning is take a deep breath. She can smell Harry. Wow, that is _so weird_.

She never really gave much thought to mates, or specifically, _her_ mate, or how she would smell, but Louis never wants to stop smelling her. Ever. 

But after the day she had yesterday, Louis was more than eager to find Harry and just sit near her, subtly smelling her and just being in her presence. That could get creepy really quick if she wasn’t careful.

“Don’t smell her hair,” Lottie says, giving Louis a pointed look. If Louis didn’t know any better, she could’ve sworn Lottie had read her mind. 

“I’m not going to smell her hair,” Louis replies.

Lottie smirks and punches Louis in the arm. 

“Ouch!” Louis hisses. Good thing she has super healing, or that would leave a bruise. Lottie has a lot more strength than she realises.

“Bye!” Lottie sings as she runs off to meet her friends.

“Why does she always hit me? Why doesn’t she ever hit you?” Louis asks, rubbing her arm where Lottie’s fist connected.

Liam laughs. “Because I’m the one who trains her.”

Louis huffs. “It’s rude, that’s what it is. I’m the eldest, I should be treated with _some_ respect.”

Liam just grins. She kisses the side of Louis’ head and they make their way through the school grounds until they find their friends. 

And there’s Harry. Louis’ heart skips a beat in her chest. Harry is sitting with Niall, who is laughing loudly about _something_ , and Zayn sits behind her, her sketchbook in her lap, and a pencil in hand. 

“God she’s beautiful,” Louis mutters. 

“Keep it in your pants, Lou, we’re at school,” Liam teases.

She shoots Liam a dirty look and slides out from under her arm just as they reach their friends.

“Hey,” she greets them, moving to sit down next to Harry. She smells _incredible_. It’s so hard to believe that the last time Louis saw her she was in her wolf form.

“Hey,” Harry says happily. “So… this is odd, but are you two together?” she asks, gesturing between Liam and Louis.

“Oh, god no,” Louis replies. “Liam’s my sister.”

Harry’s cheeks immediately turn red and she ducks her head, clearly embarrassed. Niall just laughs loudly. She almost falls off her seat, and it takes Zayn’s quick hands to stop her.

“Oh that’s amazing,” Niall says, wiping at her eyes. “Oh, Harry, we’re keeping you!”

Harry’s smile looks hesitant. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you…” she begins. “You just looked like a couple yesterday… and… umm, yeah.”

“We’re not offended, love,” Louis says easily. “We’re just a really close family. God, not _that_ close, Niall!” She flicks Niall’s leg and Niall howls with more laughter.

“Louis’ mum adopted me when I was six,” Liam replies. “We were best friends as babies, and we’ve grown up together. We’re sisters in all but blood.”

“We’re sisters in the ways that count,” Louis says, looking pointedly at Liam, who gives her a soft smile in return.

“So Niall and Zayn are the only queer ones?” Harry asks, sounding a little hesitant.

Louis shakes her head. “Nah, we’re all queer,” she begins. She catches Liam’s gaze again, mentally seeing if it’s okay to share her sexuality. Liam just nods. “As you know, Zayn and Niall are bisexual, I’m lesbian, and Liam is bi-romantic asexual.”

Harry beams. “My sister is asexual!” she exclaims happily. “Um, sorry, that was a bit too enthusiastic.”

“It’s okay,” Liam replies. She smiles, so Louis knows she isn’t offended.

“And you, curly?” Louis prompts.

“Oh! I’m a lesbian, too,” Harry replies. Louis’ heart thuds harder in her chest. 

“Bell’s about to go,” Zayn says, closing her sketchbook. She slides it back into her bag and stands up. Niall gets up next and kisses Zayn with a smacking noise on the lips. 

“See you kids for break,” she says before skipping off. Louis scrambles to follow after her, calling out Niall’s name, but Niall just laughs and moves faster through the throng of students.

“You could’ve waited,” Louis says as she slides into her seat next to Niall.

“Nah, it’s fun to watch you run,” Niall teases. “So… Zayn told me about her vision.”

Louis’ cheeks burn. “She told my mum!” She’s proper embarrassed about that. She gets _why_ Zayn told her mum that Louis found her mate – it affects the whole pack. But she could’ve let Louis be the one to tell her. She can’t be mad at Zayn, her loyalty is to the pack as well. She’s just doing what is right.

Niall shrugs. “At least Jay knows. There’d be nothing worse than having a lovesick teenage daughter around and not knowing what to do about it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Louis replies. “Anyway, it’s not like I can go up to her and say ‘Harry, you’re my mate, let’s snog!’ that would _not_ go down well.”

Niall grins. Her voice drops quieter as the roll call beings. “At least she’s gay. You’re in with a shot now.”

Louis’ pulse spikes at the possibility. Harry is gay. This means that Louis could actually have a proper relationship with her. 

The thought excites her as much as it scares her.

~*~


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're both angels! ♥

Friday brings a level of itchiness under Louis’ skin that is only ever associated with the full moon. Sometimes it makes her short tempered, other times it just makes her moody. Liam usually experiences it the same ways Louis does – but they experience it together, so they can help each other.

Both Lottie and Félicité are home from school, as they’re still too new to being werewolves that they’re easily drained, and far tetchier than either Louis or Liam are. That doesn’t stop them from feeling the pull of the moon, even during the day time, but they’re more aware of it, and are able to control themselves a little better.

Or they usually are. But Louis is having trouble focusing today. 

Harry’s scent is… _extra_ today, and it’s all Louis is able to think about. 

They’ve been slowly getting to know each other all week – and it’s been wonderful, but today Louis just wants to lie down and tell Harry to own her. 

It is not a feeling that she is used to.

The bell sounds to signal lunch and Louis winces at its piercing noise. She breathes in, holds it for a few seconds, and exhales. It won’t do her any good to lose control and rip the bell from the wall, no matter _how_ much she may want to.

She makes her way to the canteen, immediately spotting Zayn and Niall at a table. They’ve been friends since primary school and Louis still has _no idea_ how Niall and Zayn manage to get to the canteen so fast. Niall doesn’t have any powers – not that they’re aware of, at least, but things just seem to go well for her. Niall always claims it’s a part of her Irish charm, but sometimes Louis wonders if she just has good luck in her blood.

Liam slumps into the spot next to Louis and buries her head in her arms. She groans when Louis’ hand comes to the back of her neck, massaging softly, surreptitiously draining her pain away.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asks as she sits down at the table. She unwraps her sandwich and takes a bite, looking between Louis and Liam.

“Liam gets pretty bad migraines with her period,” Louis replies. It’s not exactly the truth, but it’s an answer that Harry will easily accept.

“Ohh, that’s horrid,” Harry says. She sets her sandwich down. “I have some paracetamol, if you’d like it?”

Her heart blooms in her chest at Harry’s generosity. “I just gave her some,” Louis replies. “But thank you.”

Harry smiles and Louis’ heart skips a beat. “That must suck to have your period right now. And it’s a full moon tonight.”

Liam freezes under Louis’ hand and Louis’ heart thuds a little harder in her chest.

“What?” she asks, trying not to let her voice come out _too_ high pitched. 

“It’s a full moon tonight,” Harry repeats. “My mum works at the hospital – she says she’s seen all kinds of things on the nights of a full moon.”

Louis catches Zayn’s gaze but Zayn shrugs. She bites her lip. Zayn would say if she’d seen anything that indicated Harry as a threat to them.

“Yeah, I’ve heard stories,” Niall says easily. Thank goodness for Niall, Louis thinks.

“Um, so, I didn’t want to say anything,” Harry starts, fiddling with her sandwich again. “But I saw a wolf in the woods the other day.”

This time, Louis is the one that freezes. Zayn levels her with _a look_ and if Louis hadn’t already had an earful from Liam, she might’ve been intimidated. 

“Nah, you can’t have,” Niall says, shoving some more food into her mouth. “There’s no wolves in England.”

“It was _definitely_ a wolf,” Harry insists. “I was shocked, but I’ve seen wolves before, and that looked exactly like the wolves I’ve seen.”

Louis’ pulse spikes again. “There was talk about reintroducing wolves into Scotland,” she begins, her voice a little shaky. “Maybe it’s one of those?”

“From Scotland?” Harry asks. She shrugs. “I guess it’s possible. I didn’t see any other wolves, it might be a lone one.”

“Maybe,” Louis agrees weakly.

“He had fur the same colour as your hair, Lou,” Harry says, reaching out to tug gently at the end of Louis’ ponytail that is sitting over her shoulder. 

“She,” Louis corrects without meaning to.

Harry’s hand stills in her hair. She blinks her big green eyes at Louis and cocks her head to the side.

“I just… Everyone always says _he_ when referring to things, and animals, yeah? So I do the opposite.”

Harry smiles. “I like that. Well, _she_ had the same colour fur as your hair. This lovely caramel brown colour.”

Louis would very much like Harry to keep stroking her hair, please. She feels herself shifting closer to Harry’s hand, unable to take her eyes off Harry.

Zayn loudly clears her throat. “Lou. Can I come over tonight?”

Louis’ attention snaps over to Zayn. “Um. Yeah, of course.”

“What’s on tonight?” Harry asks. 

Shit. She’s never had to explain to an outsider the whys of the things they do.

“Louis’ auntie is an artist and she gives me private lessons,” Zayn replies easily. “I get a family and friends discount.”

“That’s nice,” Harry says with a smile. Her hand drops back to the table and it takes all of Louis’ strength not to whine at the loss of touch. Next to her, Liam groans. She lifts her head and gives Louis a pathetic look.

“Take me home?” she asks. “I feel shit.”

“Yeah, of course,” Louis replies immediately. “Zayn, can you grab any homework for the both of us?”

“’Course,” Zayn agrees with a nod. “I’ll see you tonight.”

They say their goodbyes, and Louis shoots one last, lingering look at Harry before taking Liam by the hand and wandering out to the car park.

“Louis!” 

She stops, hearing Harry’s voice call out to her from too far away. Harry pushes passed some students milling about and she shoots them an apologetic look.

“Um, can I have your number?” Harry asks in a rush. Her cheeks are red and Louis just nods dumbly. Harry beams at her and passes Louis her unlocked phone. Louis adds herself as a contact and adds a little sun emoji next to her name just because she can. 

“Would you like to do something tomorrow?” Harry asks, licking her lips.

“Y-yeah, I’d love to,” Louis replies. Harry beams at her. 

“I’ll text you.”

Louis watches as Harry walks away, staring at her for far too long. Liam groans next to her and she curses, leading Liam to the car. She apologises and Liam just makes a noise, leaning her head back on the seat, her eyes closed. 

“You’ll be fine, Li,” Louis says, reaching over and patting Liam’s thigh. She reverses out of her spot and heads for home. 

The moment they’re close enough to the house, Liam starts undressing, leaving a pile of her clothes on her seat. She leans over, kisses Louis’ cheek and flings herself from the still moving car.

“So dramatic,” Louis chides, clucking her tongue. She hears Liam’s playful growl in response as she dashes away into the woods in her wolf form.

Louis parks her car and gathers Liam’s clothes and backpack, carrying everything inside.

“What are you doing home already?” Uncle Emmett asks as Louis steps into the kitchen. She goes straight for the fridge and gets the water jug. 

“Liam needed to run. She’s been chomping at the walls all day. She’s out there right now,” Louis replies as she pours herself a drink.

“She’ll probably bump into Uncle Nate out there. He’s been running for an hour now,” Uncle Emmett says. 

“Are you’re not feeling the pull?” Louis asks. It’s always an endless source of fascination to her how Bitten wolves feel the moon differently.

“I am,” Uncle Emmett replies. “But I’ve also got work to do. Thank goodness I can work from home to keep all you rascals in check. Now shoo, I’ve got work to finish before the twins get home.”

Louis laughs. She kisses the side of her uncle’s head and grabs herself something else to eat before leaving the room. She chews on her apple and heads up to her room to change. She discards both her and Liam’s uniforms in the hamper and changes into jeans and a shirt. Her phone pings with a message and she picks it up. Her heart beats faster in her chest when she sees that it’s from Harry.

_I hope Liam feels better soon! Xo Harry_ it says.

Louis grins at her phone and types out a response: _Me too. She’s moody when she’s hormonal_.

She sets her phone back down. Their lessons will be starting again soon and she doesn’t want Harry to get into trouble. She wanders back downstairs and heads out into the back garden where her parents are with Lottie and Félicité. 

Her mum shoots her a questioning look. “Liam’s out running.” Jay nods her head. 

“C’mon, girls, it’s okay,” Jay says soothingly. 

Louis wanders closer. She throws her apple core towards the trees that line the edge of their home and it lands with a soft thud. 

“Need a hand?” she asks.

“Your mum and I have it,” Mark replies. He gives Louis a hard look.

Lately things have been strained between them. He used to be such a good dad when Louis was younger. She loved him so much. And even though she knew that he wasn’t biologically her dad, he still treated her like his daughter. 

But when Louis came out, things changed. He didn’t understand why she would choose to be a lesbian, and she didn’t understand why he _chose_ to be ignorant about the fact that she didn’t have a choice in the matter. 

They only really get along in front of Jay and the girls, but they don’t spend any time together anymore. Louis doesn’t see that it’s worth it.

It’s odd to her that he’s upset over her sexuality when Uncle Emmett and Uncle Nate have been together, and have lived with them, since Louis was born. She figures that it’s just a case of him not being able to accept it in one of his kids. It doesn’t stop the hurt, though, not one bit. Especially when she sees how easily he gets on with her uncles. 

“I’ll go get the twins from school then,” Louis says. Jay shoots her a grateful look.

“Thank you, poppet,” she says. “Can you take them to get McDonald’s or something? I don’t want them seeing Lottie and Fizzy like this.”

“Yeah, of course,” Louis replies. She heads back inside, grabs her handbag and her mum’s car keys and heads back outside.

Something firm hits her leg as she walks down the driveway and she grins, seeing Liam’s wolf body sitting on her haunches. She squats down and rubs behind Liam’s ears. 

“Are you having fun?” she asks. Liam nods. “Good. I’m going to be out a while. Mum and Dad have Lottie and Fizzy in the back garden. I think the girls are struggling a bit. But Dad… well, you know he doesn’t like me being around.” Liam head butts Louis’ arm. “What? It’s the truth. So I’m on twin duty. Can you stay close? Just in case the girls lose control?”

Liam nods again. Louis kisses right on top of her head. “Love you.” Liam head butts her again and Louis laughs, climbing into the car. 

The only downside to living in a manor in the middle of the woods is the time that it takes to drive everywhere. 

Louis pulls up at the twins’ school with minutes to spare before the bell goes. She closes her eyes and picks out their scents among the hundreds of other little kids in the school. There are parents milling about already, waiting for the bell to ring so they can collect their children. Louis joins the masses and gets a few odd looks. It’s nothing she isn’t used to. People always jump to conclusions when she picks up her sisters – thinking that she’s their mum and that Louis is some teenage hussy who can’t keep her vagina to herself.

It would make her laugh if it wasn’t so pathetic.

The bell sounds and a few seconds later, hundreds of voices fill the air. She picks out Daisy and Phoebe’s voices among all of them and makes a beeline for them. Their faces light up when they see her, and she scoops both of them into her arms, planting smacking kisses on their cheeks. They immediately bury their faces in her neck, scenting her. It makes her smile.

“How was your day?” she asks as she carries them to the car. She can see some parents giving her more odd looks, but she ignores it in favour of the two most important people in her arms right now.

Phoebe and Daisy talk over each other, chattering happily about the things they did, and the drawings they created during art time. She listens attentively, asking questions in all the right places. She sets them down at the car and opens the door so they can clamber inside. She secures them in their booster seats and closes the door. She climbs into the driver’s seat and catches their gazes in the rear-view mirror.

“Well, it sounds like you’ve both been _excellent_ students today,” she says conspiratorially. The girls both nod. “What do you say we get a treat? How about McDonald’s?”

Both twins squeal excitedly and Louis winces at the pitch. 

“Alright, let’s go fill your tummies with some yummy food.”

~*~

The first thing Louis notices when she parks the car at home is that there is an undeniable tension in the air. She focuses her senses and locates almost her entire family out in the back garden.

She gets the twins out of the car and leads them into the house. 

“Go get ready for a bath, please,” she says, setting their school bags down to be sorted through after. “Someone will be up in a minute, okay?”

Daisy and Phoebe nod. They take each other’s hand and run up the stairs. Louis heads for the backdoor. She can smell the tension in the air. It doesn’t smell good.

She takes the scene in. Lottie and Félicité are off to the side, their mum standing in front of them. Liam and Mark are facing each other off. Liam is wearing clothes, but is in her beta form, her fangs showing as she gnashes her teeth in Mark’s direction. Mark is in his beta form, too. He stands taller than Liam, but Louis knows that Liam would win in a fight.

Uncle Nate appears a moment later, shifting back into human form and picking up some trousers to put on.

“What’s going on?” Louis asks, her gaze focused on Liam and Mark only.

“Louis, stay out of it,” Jay says sternly. It isn’t her alpha voice, so Louis doesn’t pay it any mind. 

“Mark, c’mon, let’s go for a run,” Uncle Nate says. He runs his hand through his short, dark brown hair, his gaze focused on Mark. 

“Not until she apologises.”

“I’ve got nothing to apologise _for_ ,” Liam growls around her fangs. Instinctively, Louis steps forwards.

Three things then happen at once.

Zayn rounds the side of the house, catching no one’s attention except Liam’s. 

Mark says a comment that Louis is _never_ going to forget. 

And Louis launches herself at him.

She’s in her beta form before she can even think about it, pinning him to the ground hard. She roars in his face. Her grip is tight around his neck, her claws drawing blood.

She can hear the faint cries of Lottie and Félicité in the background, but she can’t drown out the sound of rage in her own mind to focus on them.

The only thing that can break her out of this is her mum’s almighty roar. 

The world shakes. 

Louis lets go of Mark’s neck, kneels down and whimpers. All of the wolves kneel down at Jay’s roar. Lottie and Félicité cover their ears, whimpering. Louis can see the tears in their eyes. 

“Get up.” Jay says coolly, her fangs retracting, and her face smoothing back into its usual features. “Nate, take the girls and Zayn inside, please. And make sure that Emmett is giving the twins their bath. Ashley, Joseph and the kids will be home soon. You three, stay right there.”

Louis can’t look her mum in the eyes. Her heart thuds wildly in her chest.

“I know that it’s a full moon tonight,” Jay begins. “But that does _not_ excuse your behaviour. I was trying to train Lottie and Félicité out here and then you three had to go and pull that pathetic stunt.”

Louis glances at Liam, whose face is impassive. 

“Mark,” Jay starts. “ _You_ are the adult here… Don’t you _dare_ interrupt me right now.” Louis feels smug at her mum telling Mark off. “Louis, you are not blameless either, so drop that this instant.”

Chastised, Louis ducks her head. 

“Mark, I don’t know what is going on with you lately, but I will not have it in my home,” Jay continues, her voice even and low. “You are my mate, yes, but these are my children. Do not ask me to choose between you because you _will not_ like the answer.”

It’s hard not to feel smug at that comment, too.

“Take a lap. All three of you. If I hear one peep of anger, or if I smell anything unsavoury on _any_ of you, you’re all sleeping outside.” 

_That_ is a worse punishment than anything else. 

Packs tend to sleep together on full moons. They have a family nest set up for these very nights and to be exiled from that is akin to being left outside in the rain.

Louis takes Liam’s hand and starts to run with her. They don’t need to shift, not yet. They’ll be doing plenty of that later tonight. She can hear the voices of their parents behind them, and Jay’s firm ‘run it off, Mark’, which makes Louis feel better.

She and Liam go their usual way, feet pounding on the hard forest floor. Louis can feel the frustration radiating off Liam. She stops them, and pulls Liam into a crushing hug. They fall to the ground together. Liam cries in Louis’ arms, big, wracking, sobbing cries that leave Louis’ heart feeling like it’s breaking in her chest. Louis’ shirt is soaked through within seconds. 

“I’ve got you,” Louis whispers, kissing the top of Liam’s head over and over. “I’ve got you. I’m not letting go, okay?” She keeps repeating the words, letting Liam know that she’s here for her, that she isn’t going anywhere.

While she doesn’t exactly know what happened, she can make a few educated guesses. Mark hasn’t been accepting of the changes that Louis and Liam have been going through lately. She isn’t sure _why_ , it’s not like they can help the way they feel, but he has been rather vocal about it when their mum isn’t present. And Louis isn’t one to keep her mouth shut. Especially not when her young, impressionable sisters, are within earshot of his hatred.

“He said I wasn’t his daughter,” Liam says brokenly.

“I heard,” Louis whispers, closing her eyes. “I don’t give a fuck what he thinks, you’re my sister in _every single way_ , you hear me?”

Liam stays silent. Her tears haven’t stopped, but the whole body shakes have. She clings to Louis, her knuckles white with how tightly she’s clutching Louis’ shirt. The fabric rips. Louis doesn’t care. She only cares about Liam. 

“I love you so much, Liam,” Louis whispers against the top of Liam’s head. “So, _so_ much. You’re everything to me.” She nuzzles Liam’s head, trying to get her scent all over Liam, trying to drown her in it so that Liam can’t think of anything else. 

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Hopefully mum will rip him a new one,” Louis says. “Because if she doesn’t, I definitely will.”

“…Lou,” Liam mumbles against her throat. “Don’t…”

“Don’t even finish that though, Li,” Louis says. “I love you more than I love him. You’re my second, my sister, my _blood_. I will kill anyone who dares to try and make you think otherwise.”

Liam lets out a choked sob. “I love you too, Louis.”

They stay there until the sun starts to set in the sky. 

The moon prickles at Louis’ skin. She can feel the change happening before she even realises it. She closes her eyes and lets the moon’s pull take over her. Her clothes are already wrecked, but she’ll come out here tomorrow and collect the shredded pieces. Liam is more careful – she undresses completely before changing. And once she’s in her full wolf form, Louis tackles her. 

They nip at each other, playful growls and slobbering licks. Louis puts her paw on top of Liam’s head and nuzzles into her flank. Liam’s huffing breath lets Louis know that she’s enjoying it.

They frolic through the woods, bounding all over the place. She nips at Liam’s fur, pulling only hair away. It sticks to her tongue. She could swear that Liam laughs at her.

They make their way back towards the house, running in zig zags, chasing each other, and trying to bowl each other over. Liam makes it back to their garden before Louis does, and she sits on her haunches, looking up at the house. Louis sits next to her. She nudges Liam with her snout before trotting up to the back door. She paws at it, and Lottie pushes it open. She whines, nudging Lottie’s hand with her head until Lottie finally follows her outside.

Lottie and Félicité won’t be able to fully shift until they’re fifteen or sixteen, they’ve got time yet, but Lottie’s features shift into her beta form and she laughs around her fangs, following Louis’ bounding, guiding her to the trees.

She barks, calling for the rest of her family. She can see Daisy and Phoebe’s faces pressing against the window near the back door and she trots back over to them. 

“Go on, then,” Jay says fondly. 

Both girls climb up on Louis’ back and they dig their little hands into her fur, holding on tightly. She can feel their knees digging into her sides and knows they aren’t going anywhere. She sets off, walking slower than a trot, but faster than her usual gait. She meets Liam and Lottie at the edge of the garden, noses Liam’s jaw and licks her before taking off.

The twins squeal in happiness. 

Louis runs. She runs and she runs and she runs.

And under the moonlight she feels free.

~*~


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're both angels! ♥

“Sorry I’m late!” Louis exclaims upon seeing Harry patiently waiting for her.

Waking up after a full moon is always hard. She never wants to do anything except sleep, especially with how much she ran last night. And she especially didn’t want to leave Liam, either. But Liam said she needed to go to the library to start on an assignment that Zayn had brought over last night, so Louis dropped her off on the way to meeting Harry at their local shopping centre.

“You’re not late,” Harry says.

Louis gives her a side-eye. “I’m twenty minutes late,” she replies. “And I’m sorry. I had to drop Liam off at the library.”

“How is she feeling?” Harry asks. They walk into the shopping centre, and Louis just follows wherever Harry leads her. “Did her migraine go away?”

“Yeah, eventually,” Louis replies. “It got worse when we got home, but she’s doing better today.”

Harry hums. “Periods are the worst,” she comments. “I feel lucky that I don’t get cramps as bad as some people do. Gemma always gets them really badly. So! Do you have anything in mind that you want to do?”

Louis stops, she looks around at the shops surrounding them. “I need to get a couple of new shirts. And I want to pick up something for Liam, too.”

“That’s sweet of you,” Harry replies. “You’re a very lovely sister.”

“I try,” Louis says. 

She hadn’t let go of Liam all night when they got back home. She had clung to her tightly, almost viciously, too scared to let her go. Liam tried to play it off like she didn’t care, but Louis knew otherwise. She knew that Liam needed that contact. 

The downside was that Jay had let Mark into the nest with them. He was on the complete opposite side to Louis and Liam, but he was still too close for Louis’ liking. She still doesn’t like the fact that she’s left Liam alone today, but she knows Liam will call her if she needs her. It still makes her skin prickle uncomfortably, though.

They go into H&M and Harry leads them over to the ladies’ section. They browse through the racks, Louis choosing a few tops for herself, and she picks up a new pair of trousers, too.

“This would look cute on you,” Harry says, holding up a cream coloured jumper. “It’s off the shoulder, too.”

Louis promptly flushes. “Alright,” she says. She chooses her size and adds it to the rapidly growing pile on her arm.

“Should we try things on?” Harry suggests.

Louis nods and follows Harry to the changing rooms. Almost everything fits, which is a relief, including the jumper Harry picked out for her.

“Have you tried it on yet?” Harry calls from the cubicle next to Louis’.

“Yeah,” Louis says. “I’ve got it on now.”

“Let me see?” 

The curtain slides back before Louis can even form an answer. Harry stares at her.

“You look gorgeous,” she says.

Louis’ heart thuds in her chest. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Harry replies, her voice softer this time. Louis flushes. Harry closes the curtain and Louis sags against the solid wall. Her entire body feels too warm. She undresses and pulls her own clothes back on. She picks up everything again, holding it in her arms until Harry has finished trying on the clothes she chose, too.

“What did you want to get Liam?” Harry asks as they leave H&M with their purchases.

“I’m not sure,” Louis says. “Maybe a ‘world’s best sister’ mug?” It’s a tacky suggestion, but she really needs to drive the message home.

“How about we look in Paperchase?” Harry suggests, pointing to the stationery shop.

Louis nods. “That’s perfect. Liam loves being organised.”

“Me too!” Harry exclaims.

“Which is why you had a pen on the first day?” she teases.

The red hue to Harry’s cheeks makes Louis smile. “That was a one-off.” 

They make their way into the shop, and before Louis knows it, she’s got an entire collection of things that she knows Liam will love. 

“Would you like to come over? My parents aren’t home, and we could have lunch?” Harry asks.

Before she knows it, Louis is heading back to her car with Harry and driving to Harry’s place. She leaves her purchases in the car and follows Harry into her house. It’s huge. Not as big as the manor, of course, because so many people live there, but by regular house standards, it’s pretty big.

Harry points out photographs of her mum, step-dad, and sister, and Louis stares at them for a few long moments. It’s easy to see where Harry gets her smile from. 

“What would you like to eat?” Harry asks.

“Um, I’m good with a sandwich,” Louis replies. 

Harry pulls on an apron, and Louis can’t help but think she looks so cute. She washes her hands and gets started on making them sandwiches for lunch. 

Louis’ wolf rumbles happily at the sight, and of being so close to her mate. And being alone with her, too. She checks her phone to make sure that Liam hasn’t messaged, and shoves it back into her pocket.

“Let’s eat in the lounge,” Harry says, passing Louis a plate. She’s cut the sandwich into triangles, and added a garnish, too. Louis is so in love.

They sit next to each other on the sofa, Harry sitting closer than Louis expects her to. She props her feet up on the coffee table and flicks on the television. Louis takes a bite of her sandwich and moans at how wonderful it tastes. It’s a partial compliment to Harry, but also it’s because food always tastes amazing after a full moon.

But the way Harry flushes at Louis’ noises, she would happily say that it’s all Harry’s skill. 

“How are you liking school so far?” Louis asks. She takes another bite of her sandwich, withholding the moans this time.

Harry nods. “It’s good,” she replies. “English Literature is my favourite class.”

“Mine too.”

“I really like your friends. Thank you for including me in your group.”

“We’re happy to have you,” Louis replies. “It’s nice to have someone else there. If only to be a tie breaker. Zayn and Niall almost always agree on everything, and the same with Liam and myself.”

“It’s nice to know I come in useful,” Harry says, her tone light and teasing. Louis grins at her.

“Plus, you’re gay, so that helps. If you were straight, you wouldn’t be able to sit with us,” Louis jokes. 

“Thank goodness I’m a lesbian, then,” Harry says. “I’d hate not to be able to be friends with you all.”

Louis licks her lips and nods. “That’s why there’s only the four of us. Well, five now.”

Harry grins. They finish their food while watching whatever is playing on the television. Louis can’t really concentrate on it right now. Not with Harry sitting so closely to her and smelling so good.

“C’mon, let’s go up to my room,” Harry says, shutting off the TV. They take their empty plates to the kitchen and then Harry leads the way to her room.

It’s decorated in soft pastel colours. Her bed is big, and Louis’ mind immediately wonders what it’d be like to sleep next to Harry. 

She tears her gaze away from it and looks around at everything else. She wanders to a bookcase and runs her fingers across the colourful spines. She can feel Harry behind her, watching her. She spots well-worn copies of the _Twilight_ books sitting on the shelf, and Harry is at her side in an instant.

“In my defence, I was a kid,” she says, removing Louis’ hand from the shelf. Her fingers brush against Louis’ own for a few beats longer than is probably necessary before letting go.

“No judgements here,” Louis says.

Harry raises her eyebrows.

“Alright. _Some_ judgements here,” she amends with a teasing smile. “Were you Team Edward or Team Jacob?”

“Neither,” Harry says. She climbs up on her bed. “I was Team Leah and Team Rosalie. My two power lesbians who should’ve ended up together.”

Louis can’t help but grin. “I liked Leah and Rosalie, too,” she admits.

Harry gasps dramatically. “You read them?”

“In my defence, I was a kid.” Harry beams at her. 

Really, Louis just wanted to know if they got anything about werewolves right. Plus, she was an impressionable kid, and they were the ‘in’ series a few years back. 

“I’ve never met anyone else who liked Leah and Rosalie,” Harry comments.

“Alice is pretty cool, too,” Louis adds. “She’s bisexual to me. She and Bella had _far_ too much chemistry for either of them to be straight.”

Harry’s smile lights up the entire room. “Zayn reminds me of Alice.”

Louis has to hold back the expressions she wants to emote. Harry pats the bed next to her and Louis boldly climbs up next to her. They shift and settle against the pillows.

“Tell me all of your Bella and Alice head-canons, please,” Harry requests. 

“I don’t really have many,” Louis admits. Her brain is going foggy from Harry being so close to her. “I just didn’t think they were straight. I hated Edward and Jacob. They were losers.”

Harry nods. “Yes, yes, _yes_!” she says emphatically. “It’s so good to hear someone else say that! Everyone at my old school were either Team Jacob or Team Edward and I was the only one who thought Bella could do better.”

Louis smiles, unable to help herself. “You’re cute.” It just slips out. She immediately goes red, and Harry looks like she stops breathing for a moment there. 

They sit there, staring at each other. The air thickens between them. 

“Can I kiss you?” Harry asks, her voice barely a whisper.

Louis nods. She shifts, meeting Harry half way.

The entire world stops. 

It tilts on its axis. 

It spins out of control. 

The first touch of their lips makes Louis’ entire body thrum. Her wolf sings. _She_ sings. 

This is perfection.

Harry’s lips are soft against her own. She moves, edging closer. Louis rests her hand on Harry’s hip, trying to wrap her head around the fact that Harry is _kissing her_!

They part just enough so that Louis can see Harry smiling. Her breath is warm on Louis’ cheek.

“I’ve wanted to do that since the first moment I saw you,” Harry whispers.

Louis’ tongue darts out to lick her lips. “Me too,” she admits. “I have the biggest crush on you.”

Harry grins. “Me too.”

They’re kissing again, lips sliding easily against each other’s. It isn’t Louis’ first kiss, but it’s the first kiss that _counts_. These are the first kisses from her mate, from the girl that completes her. She never wants this moment to end.

Her pulse spikes, her heart beating harder and harder in her chest. Harry’s tongue slides against her own and Louis lets out the most pathetic noise she’s ever made in her entire life. 

Her fingers ache and she pulls back. She knows that feeling. Shit. This isn’t good.

“Is this okay?” Harry asks.

Louis nods. She can’t lose control here. She _can’t_. 

“Um, can I use your loo?” she asks, trying not to look at Harry’s disappointed expression.

“Of course,” Harry replies. She tells Louis that there’s one in the bathroom down the hall, and Louis quickly makes her way to it. 

She locks the door behind her and stares at her reflection. 

“Get it together, Louis,” she mutters. Her claws come out, extending slowly like they know they’re torturing her.

In her mind, she conjures Liam’s voice. Her soft, reassuring voice. Her grounding voice speaking the words that Louis repeats to herself in a mutter.

The claws retract. Her fangs retract and her eyes go back to their normal blue colour. 

She lets out a breath of relief and then realises she needs to pee. She goes as quickly as she can, flushing the loo and washing her hands before joining Harry in her bedroom again.

There’s music on as Louis steps back into the room. Harry stands at her stereo and fiddles with some knobs before turning back around. She flashes Louis a grin. 

“So,” she begins, slowly making her way to Louis. “Since _I_ have wanted to do that for a while, and since _you_ have wanted to do that for a while, how about we keep doing it?”

“Can’t argue with that logic,” Louis says. Harry smiles. Louis’ insides melt. 

They settle back on the bed Louis lying back against the pillows with Harry hovering over her. She runs her hand down Louis’ shirt clad side and then back up her arm. 

“You’re very beautiful,” Harry says softly. Their gazes catch. “There was something about you… From the first moment I saw you I just _knew_ deep inside of me that there was something about you… That I wanted to be your girlfriend.”

Louis’ heart hammers wildly in her chest. She can’t speak. She can’t even begin to form proper thoughts right now.

She’s just guided Harry back to her, their lips touching when her phone goes off in her pocket with Liam’s ringtone. She winces at how loud it is and pulls back from Harry’s incredible lips to fish it out of her pocket.

“Hey, Li,” she says.

“ _I’m finished and I’ve got a horrible headache. Can you come and get me?_ ” Liam asks.

“Yeah, of course,” Louis replies. She disconnects the call and sighs. “I have to go get Liam.” 

Harry’s expression falls. “Is she okay?” she asks. 

Louis shrugs. “I don’t know. Last night was pretty bad… She might be feeling some after effects.”

Harry nods. “Tell her that I hope she feels better.”

“I will,” Louis replies.

Harry walks her down to her car, and they share one last, lingering kiss. It’s very hard for Louis to tear herself away from Harry’s lips right now, but she somehow finds the strength.

“I’ll text you,” Harry promises. 

Louis holds that in her heart as she drives away from Harry.

~*~

“You smell happy.”

“That is such a weird thing to say to someone, Liam.” Louis rolls her eyes at the same time Liam does.

“Doesn’t stop it from being true,” Liam says pointedly.

“Harry and I kissed.”

“Really? Tell me everything.” And so Louis does. She spares no detail, including how Liam has utterly _shit_ timing. Louis could’ve been snogging Harry all afternoon, but instead, she’s driving them both back home.

Home, where things are still tense and awkward with Mark. But thankfully not with their mum. No, Jay’s love for them is unconditional and everlasting. 

Niall’s car is parked in the drive when Louis gets home. Liam’s confusion matches her own. At least they’re both in the dark here. After last night, Louis wasn’t expecting to see Niall or Zayn for the rest of the weekend. 

Once she’s stepped out of the car, Louis scents the air. 

“They’re doing their magical stuff,” she tells Liam, whose nose is in the air, too.

“Yeah, I don’t think they got to do much last night.”

They make their way into the house, which is spilling over with noise and people. Auntie Ashley and Uncle Joseph are there with their three kids, and Uncle Nate is chasing the twins around outside. 

“I’m going to my room,” Liam says. Louis shoots her a worried look, but doesn’t go after her. She doubles back and gets her things from the car from her shopping trip with Harry and takes them up to her own room, figuring she’ll give Liam her present later.

She wanders back downstairs to where Zayn and Auntie Ashley are. Niall is watching them silently, her attention so focused on what they’re doing. It’s rare to see Niall sitting so still. She’s usually like Louis – always on the move.

Zayn’s abilities are different to Auntie Ashley’s, but she’s the only magical person in the pack, and Zayn has to train with _someone_. Louis knows that having Niall there grounds Zayn, focuses her powers and abilities, so she leaves them in peace, figuring it’s the least she can do considering they didn’t get to do much training the night before.

Louis’ phone goes off in her pocket and she grins when she sees that it’s from Harry. She makes quick work of finding a spot to sit so she can text her back. She loses herself in texting Harry for a good hour. It’s hard to tear herself away from her phone, but she also has family responsibilities too. With a sigh, she texts Harry to say that she has to go, and that she’ll text again soon. Harry replies with a kissy emoji and Louis’ heart swells in her chest. 

As she makes her way down the stairs, Louis can hear the noise from her family. Uncle Emmett is in the kitchen preparing dinner, as that’s his domain, and Mark is with him. Louis steers clear of the kitchen, heading out into the back garden instead. 

She’s surprised to see that Niall and Zayn are still here. Zayn and Auntie Ashley are off to the side, doing some physical training, while Niall is playing with Louis’ sisters and cousins. 

Their laughter instantly makes Louis feel lighter. She grins when Daisy and Phoebe squeal when they see her.

“Lou! Lou! Be a wolf!” Daisy says, bouncing up and down. “Please, please?”

“Maybe after,” she replies. Daisy pouts, but is quickly distracted by Phoebe tugging on her hand.

“Hey,” Louis says, nudging Niall’s shoulder with her own. Niall grins up at her and sets Louis’ baby cousin down. She toddles over to her dad, throwing herself in his lap. 

“Where’s Li?” Niall asks.

“In her room,” Louis replies.

“Well, that won’t do, it’s family time,” Niall says. She’s up and entering the house before Louis even registers what’s going on.

Lottie is sitting off to the side with Félicité, so Louis makes her way over to them. She sits down next to them. 

“How are you both after last night?” Louis asks. 

Félicité shrugs. “Sore. And tired.”

“Hungry, mostly,” Lottie replies. “But tired, too.”

“It gets easier,” Louis says. 

“What happened between you, Dad and Liam?” Félicité asks, her voice timid, like she’s too shy to ask what is going on.

Louis sighs. She folds her knees up and loops her arms around them, holding them loosely. “I honestly don’t know.”

“Is it a gay thing?” Félicité asks. “Because he’s fine with Uncle Emmett and Uncle Nate…”

Louis looks over at her sister. She reaches out and pats Félicité’s knee. “I don’t know, Fizz,” she begins. “I’m not going to sit here and make up excuses for Dad’s behaviour, or apologise for my own actions–”

“You’ve got nothing to apologise for,” Lottie interrupts. “Liam was sitting with us when Dad started making comments about girls not being able to control the shift as well as boys can.”

Louis stays silent. She wants to hear all of this, and she wants her sisters to feel like they’re being heard, too. As their future alpha, it’s her duty to make sure she has all of the information before reacting.

“Which is ridiculous because Mum’s our alpha,” Félicité says. “And both you and Li can turn into full wolves like Mum can, too.”

“Dad can’t,” Lottie points out. “Do you think it’s different because he was Bitten, not born?”

Louis shrugs. “It might have something to do with it,” she replies honestly. “Did you hear what Dad was saying to Liam?”

Lottie and Félicité share a look. “Not really,” Lottie replies. The uptick of her heart indicates that she’s lying. Louis doesn’t pull her up on it.

“If you remember, let me know, yeah?” she asks. She kisses them both on the tops of their heads before wandering away. She doesn’t want to push them into saying things that they aren’t comfortable with. They might tell Jay yet, which would make things easier on Louis.

Louis makes her way back inside the house and up to Liam’s room. She doesn’t even bother to knock, just pushes the door open. Liam would’ve heard her coming anyway. Niall is sprawled out on the bed while Liam sits at her desk, her school things in front of her. 

“Is Zayn finished yet?” Niall asks upon seeing Louis. She shakes her head and joins Niall on the bed, shoving her over until they’re both sitting comfortably side by side.

“It shouldn’t be too much longer,” Liam says. “I can hear them and Zayn sounds like she’s getting tired.”

“Good,” Niall says. “Well, not _good_ that Zayn’s getting tired, but I’m getting hungry.”

“You can stay for dinner if you like,” Louis offers. “Uncle Emmett is cooking.”

“That’s bloody tempting,” Niall says, and Louis knows she’s being honest – Niall _loves_ Uncle Emmett’s cooking. “But Zayn and I are going on a date tonight.”

Louis grins and pokes Niall’s shoulder. “Yeah? Sounds good.” She loves jibing Niall like this, it’s always a laugh and Niall’s reactions are the cutest. She and Zayn are the cutest couple.

“Did Louis tell you she and Harry kissed?” Liam says.

Niall rounds on her. “You did? Fucking _finally_! I’ve been putting up with the sexual tension between you two all week.”

Louis squawks and flicks Niall’s shoulder. “It only happened today.”

“She a good kisser?” Niall asks, waggling her eyebrows in Louis’ direction.

“Not that you deserve to know,” Louis begins, poking Niall in the tummy, “but, yes, she is.”

“Hear that, Li? Louis’ gone and snogged her mate for the first time,” Niall teases. “When should we place bets that Louis proposes? I give it a month.”

Zayn stepping into the room a moment later stops them from an all-out tickle war that Louis knows she would’ve easily won. She knows _all_ of the spots that Niall is ticklish in.

“I’m exhausted,” Zayn says, flopping onto the bed. She nudges Louis out of the way so she can cuddle into Niall, who immediately shoves Louis out the way even more so she can wrap her arms around Zayn’s body.

“Really feeling the love here,” Louis mutters. “Leeyum, come cuddle me, these two are being mean by excluding me.”

Liam huffs and shakes her head, but the smile on her face lets Louis know that she’s going to join them. She’s proven right when Liam climbs onto the bed next to Louis, sliding her arms around Louis’ body in a familiar, comforting hold. She traces Liam’s thick eyebrows with a finger, gently smoothing over the arches. Liam stays silent. She can feel that Zayn has fallen asleep behind her, and that Niall isn’t that far behind. 

The slow, even breaths of their friends makes Louis feel sleepy, too, and she burrows in closer to Liam, falling asleep against her sister’s chest.

~*~


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

Now that she’s experienced kissing Harry, Louis never wants to stop. She finds herself pushed up against the shelves in the library during her free lesson, Harry’s lips firmly against her own. 

She makes the cutest noises when they kiss, Louis notices. She never wants to stop hearing them.

“Shh, someone will hear us!” Louis hisses against Harry’s lips. She can feel the curve of Harry’s smile and she can’t help but kiss her again. 

“ _Good_ ,” Harry mumbles. Louis loses herself in the moment. Her super hearing will pick up anyone getting close. Well, she _hopes_. If she’s too distracted, she won’t notice a thing. 

Harry’s hands are warm on Louis’ back. She has Louis’ shirt untucked and is touching all over her skin. It literally makes Louis want to purr in happiness. She wishes they weren’t at school so they could do this somewhere more comfortable, because there’s a book poking into Louis’ arse that is _really_ ruining her mood. 

“We should stop,” Louis whispers, punctuating each word with a kiss. She doesn’t want to stop.

“Really?” Harry asks.

“Mmm, no, but I feel like we should,” Louis replies. “Because the bell is going to go soon and I really, _really_ don’t want to get caught by Mrs Fredrickson. She holds grudges. She’s still mad at me for losing a book in year eight.”

Harry giggles, pulling back. Her lips are all pink and inviting and if Louis didn’t have years of training dedicated to controlling herself, she might not have been able to stop kissing Harry. As it is, it’s very, very hard to stop. She wants nothing more than to spend all day kissing Harry. But they both have lessons to go to, and school work to do. And it’s all very annoying. Life shouldn’t be getting in the way of Louis kissing Harry.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” Harry asks as she carefully tucks Louis’ shirt back into her skirt. 

God, Louis is so in love with her.

“Huh? Oh, no, not that I can think of at the moment,” Louis replies. Honestly, she can’t really think of anything except Harry right now. How Harry smells, how she feels against Louis, how warm she is, how her lips felt pressed against Louis’ own. Harry Styles should be an A Level – and Louis would ace it without even trying.

“Would you like to come over?” Harry asks. She laces their fingers together and starts to lead Louis out from between the shelves. “My parents won’t be home, so we can do whatever.” The way she says ‘do whatever’ makes Louis’ heart thud in her chest.

“Y-yeah,” she replies, trying to sound casual but failing miserably. They collect their bags and make their way through the corridors just as the bell rings.

“Come over after you’ve dropped your sisters home, then?” 

Louis nods. “I’ll be there.”

God, she can’t _wait_. 

The rest of the day _drags_. 

Time is against her, Louis swears it. She just wants the school day to be over so she can take her sisters home and then go to Harry’s. To hopefully kiss some more. And maybe do her homework, but she hopes there are more kisses. 

If the sultry look Harry gives Louis as they pass in the corridor before their last lesson of the day is any indication, there are going to be _plenty_ of kisses. The thought excites her.

She takes Liam and Lottie home as fast as she can, racing inside to change out of her school uniform as quickly as possible. Her entire body tingles in anticipation. Liam shoots her an amused look as Louis briefly scents her neck before dashing from the house, ignoring her Uncle’s shouts about slamming doors.

She gets back into her car and curses the length of time that it takes to get from her house to Harry’s. She stays sitting in the car once she’s pulled up at Harry’s house and takes a few deep breaths. She already knows that they’re going to be alone, but it just makes things that much _more_.

Louis grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder. She figures that it wouldn’t hurt to bring her school things, just in case they are able to do some homework between kisses. She’s not counting on it, but it’s nice to be prepared.

Harry answers the door with a smile. She’s on Louis the moment it closes. Louis’ bag drops to the floor with a thud. 

They’re definitely not going to be doing homework any time soon.

Harry walks backwards, her hands on Louis’ middle, guiding her along. “Are you hungry?” she asks between kisses. “I can make us something to eat?”

“I’m not hungry,” Louis replies.

“Good.” 

They fall onto the sofa together, and have to pause their kisses to rearrange themselves to more comfortable positions. Harry’s lips are on Louis’ seconds later, her tongue in Louis’ mouth. All thought goes from Louis’ head. Her entire focus is on Harry, Harry, Harry. 

Harry ends up straddling her. Her body is soft and warm against Louis’ own. Her hands slide up Louis’ shirt, touching her skin, setting it on fire. Louis boldly touches Harry, pushing her hands under Harry’s shirt, and trusting herself to have enough control so that her claws don’t come out. That would be an instant mood killer, and she would have a _lot_ of explaining to do.

A moan falls from Louis’ lips when Harry’s fingers inch higher. She pulls back, looking dazedly at Harry. 

“When do your parents get home?” she asks breathlessly. 

“Not until after seven,” Harry replies. “We’ve got _plenty_ of time. Are you comfortable? We can move to my bedroom, if you like?”

Louis nods. “Yeah, let’s go there.”

Harry grins and gets up, she loses her footing and Louis quickly catches her, holding Harry steady.

“Thanks,” Harry says. She presses a smacking kiss to Louis’ lips before leading her upstairs to her bedroom.

Harry’s scent is so much stronger here. Louis wants to drown in it.

She puts some music on as Louis kicks off her shoes before climbing onto the bed. Harry joins her a moment later, lying next to Louis this time. 

“I really like kissing you,” Harry says, reaching up to cup Louis’ face with one hand. “I really like you a lot.”

“I like you too,” Louis replies. “A _lot_.” Harry beams at her and Louis dips her head, kissing Harry once more.

She ends up on top of Harry this time, and her wolf rumbles with happiness. She trails kisses down Harry’s neck, nipping very gently with her teeth. Harry whines and turns her head, giving Louis more access. Louis almost spontaneously combusts at the action. Harry has no idea what this means to her, but she’s baring her neck anyway. Louis’ wolf practically purrs as Louis’ lips touch the soft skin once again.

“Can I touch you?” Harry asks after Louis has probably left a rather impressive love bite on her skin. Oops. Harry doesn’t have super healing like Louis does – that mark is going to take a while to fade.

“Touch me?” Louis repeats, leaning back a little.

“Yeah, like, um, your boobs? You can touch mine, too! I don’t just have to be the one touching. Oh, god, please tell me to shut up.” Harry scrunches her eyes closed, her cheeks brightly flushed with what is rapidly becoming Louis’ favourite colour.

“I don’t want you to _ever_ shut up,” Louis says. She sits back completely and pulls off her shirt. Her bra isn’t anything fancy, but Harry stares like she’s wearing a Victoria’s Secret Fantasy bra. 

“You have really nice boobs,” Harry says. She whips off her own shirt and throws it to the ground. She sits up a little better, so they’re face to face and Louis takes pity on her. She grabs Harry’s hand and puts it right on her boob. Harry whimpers.

“My boobs are so small,” Harry laments. “You have something that I can hold at least.”

Louis laughs. She grins and shakes her head. “Your boobs are perfect, love,” she insists. “Lie back down.”

Harry quickly complies and Louis settles against her. She’s able to lay the majority of her weight on one arm and she knows she’ll be able to stay like that for a while because of her werewolf strength and stamina.

They keep kissing. Harry grows bold and cups both of Louis’ boobs in her hands. Louis can practically hear her excitement, it’s absolutely endearing. She wants nothing more than to stay in this moment forever. 

Louis can’t stop kissing Harry’s neck, either. It’s definitely a wolf thing, she decides, because her wolf rumbles so happily at her scent all over Harry. 

She thumbs Harry’s nipple over her bra and Harry’s breath hitches in her throat.

“Do that again,” she pants, staring up at Louis with lust filled eyes. Louis immediately repeats the action and Harry arches into her touch. 

Harry is so responsive and Louis absolutely loves it. She slides her hand just under the wire of Harry’s bra, inching upwards. Harry bites down on her lip, moaning softly. Louis keeps her gaze on Harry’s as she gets her hand under the fabric and cups Harry’s boob in her hand. 

“This feels really good,” Harry mumbles. Louis grins at her.

“I love your boobs.” It’s the stupidest thing that has ever come out of Louis’ mouth, but she isn’t wrong. She loves being able to touch Harry like this. Loves being alone with her. Loves being so _close_ to her. She’s so thankful that Harry seems to feel the same way.

“Lie back, I want to touch you better, too,” Harry says. She pushes Louis back and leans over her. She kisses Louis once before hesitating with her hand in the air.

Louis huffs out a laugh and pulls Harry in for another kiss. While their lips are pressed together, Harry gets the courage up to slide her hand under Louis’ bra as well. Her thumb immediately brushes over Louis’ nipple, making it stand at attention. She moans softly, arching into the touch. 

“Can I keep you?” Harry asks, pulling back. Her forehead rests against Louis’ own.

Louis’ hear thuds in her chest. “For forever.”

~*~

“Christ, Harry! Did you get mauled or something?”

Louis glares daggers at Niall. Niall just winks at Louis.

Harry tugs her shirt collar higher around her neck. It doesn’t work. Louis can still see the love bite she gave Harry peeking above the white fabric, even under the layer of makeup Harry put on it. Her wolf rumbles pleasantly at it. She loves seeing her mate all marked up like that. She knows that Harry likes it too if their text messages from last night are anything to go by.

“No,” Harry mumbles. She buries her face in Louis’ neck and Louis winds her arm low around Harry’s middle. 

“Leave my girl alone,” Louis says, looking pointedly at Niall.

“Has Liam seen that?” Zayn asks, unwrapping her sandwich.

“No,” Louis says. “So I’d appreciate it if you both kept your mouths shut.”

“Lou, it’s okay,” Harry says softly. Her hand is warm where it rests on Louis’ thigh. “You gave me a love bite? So what? We’re girlfriends, they know we snog.”

It’s not just that. Louis knows that Liam can smell it on them. She always crinkles her nose around Louis these days, claiming she _reeks_ of being in love. Louis isn’t ashamed of it, but she doesn’t like to rub it in Liam’s face that she has found her mate while Liam’s is still out there somewhere. 

Harry noses along Louis’ jaw, scenting her without even knowing what she’s doing. It makes Louis’ wolf so very happy. 

Zayn watches them with one eyebrow raised. Louis shakes her head minutely, but Zayn would know if Louis had told Harry her secret. 

She feels guilty that Harry doesn’t know that she’s a werewolf, but this is still too new between them for her to divulge such information. And it’s not just Louis’ secret, either – it’s her entire family’s secret. 

If she tells Harry that she’s a werewolf, she has to tell Harry that almost her entire family are werewolves. Then she has to explain how some of the kids in their family are still human, despite having one, or two werewolf parents. 

It’ll become a huge thing to talk about and Louis just wants to bask in the newness of their relationship a little.

“Christ, Lou, did you suck on Harry’s neck for an hour or something?”

And now Liam knows.

“I like it,” Harry says simply. She shrugs and picks up her sandwich, taking a huge bite out of it, effectively ending that line of conversation.

Unfortunately for Louis, she knows that Liam will have a _lot_ more to say in private. 

Hours later when school has finished, Louis is proven right. She waits until Lottie is out of the car before she rounds on Louis.

“You need to be more careful.”

Louis sighs and unclasps her seatbelt. “It’s _one_ love bite.”

“That’s more than _one_ love bite, Lou,” Liam points out. 

“So it’s a few. It doesn’t matter, Li,” Louis says, opening her car door. Liam leans over her and closes it.

“I’m just looking out for you.”

Louis sighs. “I know you are. But I’m not losing control. I haven’t since the first time that I saw Harry.”

Liam looks pointedly at her chest. “Lie.”

“Alright, _fine_! The first time we kissed I shifted a little bit, but Harry didn’t know – and she _still_ doesn’t know and it hasn’t happened since.”

Her heartbeat stays steady. Liam seems appeased at _that_ at least.

“You still need to be careful,” Liam says, softer this time. “It’s not just your secret to tell.”

“I know.” The heaviness sits in Louis’ chest every day. She understands the gravity of the entire situation.

“Mum will want to meet her soon.”

Louis groans and rests her head on the steering wheel. “I know.” It’s inevitable, but Louis doesn’t want it to happen just yet. She wants to keep this bubble around Harry and herself for as long as she possibly can.

“She’ll go full alpha if you don’t.”

Louis pokes her tongue out at Liam and Liam just laughs.

“C’mon, let’s go for a run. I could use the exercise.”

“Ugh fine,” Louis agrees. She gets out of the car. 

Within minutes, she’s in her full wolf form, listening to Liam’s paws thumping the ground outside impatiently. Louis joins her, noses the side of her neck, and takes off into the woods with a speed that has Liam scrambling to catch up to.

~*~

If there’s one thing that Louis absolutely loves more than anything in the world – it’s training with Liam.

Liam is all disciplined skill, hard work, no shortcuts, and pure, raw energy. And Louis _loves_ it. She loves trying to rile Liam up, to get her to misstep, to catch her off guard, make her move in ways that she normally wouldn’t. 

It’s always fun.

Louis’ body is coated with sweat. Her body thrums with energy as she faces off against Liam in their dedicated training room. She bounces on the balls of her feet, waiting for Liam’s next move. 

One of the best things is that Liam isn’t predictable, either. She’ll do whatever it takes to win a fight, short of ripping Louis’ throat out with her claws, but Louis knows that if it came to it, Liam would do that again. Not to Louis, of course, but if someone was attacking them and there was the distinct possibility that they were going to die, Liam wouldn’t hesitate in killing them. 

Sparring isn’t something Liam takes lightly, though. She treats it as her duty – as her importance of being a beta, and Louis’ future second. 

She’s strong, incredibly fast, and before Louis knows it, she has Louis pinned to the mat once again.

“You’re getting distracted,” Liam says. Her hand is warm around Louis’ throat. Louis just shrugs. She quickly manoeuvres, kicking Liam’s legs out from underneath her.

Lottie and Félicité cheer at that. It makes Louis grin.

“Who’s getting distracted now?” she teases. There are strands of her hair plastered to her sweaty skin where they’ve come out of her braid. She runs a hand over her face and at the last second, barely dodges Liam’s fist.

Liam laughs, bounces on the balls of her feet and just stares. 

They’ve perfected this dance. Neither of them will cede victory. They’ll keep going until they can move no longer. Louis’ body aches with it. She _loves_ it.

“C’mon, Li,” Louis says a little breathlessly. Her muscles burn. She doesn’t want to stop. “Give me all you’ve got.”

Liam’s eyes flash blue. Louis grins. 

The dance continues.

It’s close. It’s always close between them. Louis has never once sparred with Liam and had there be a clear winner at the end. They’re both too stubborn for that. Both too passionate about their fights, both too determined to ever let the other win. 

By the time Louis’ back is on the mat, Liam’s is too. Their breathing is heavy. She reaches out and pokes Liam’s thigh with her big toe. Liam growls in response.

“ _Fuck_ my tits are sweaty,” Louis grumbles. Her sports bra is all that she’s wearing on her top half, but it’s sitting very uncomfortably. Her special training joggers have stuck to her body like a second skin. When she can move again, she is going to look forward to a shower.

Liam reaches over and pokes Louis’ boob. “Your tits? _My_ tits are sweaty.”

“Your post fight talk is always boring,” Lottie announces. “But that was a good match. I for sure thought that Louis was going to go down in the first ten minutes.”

Louis squawks indignantly and looks over at her younger sister. “Lottie!”

Lottie just shrugs. “It is what it is.”

“I had you at fifteen minutes,” Félicité says.

Louis stares at them, agape. “My own sisters!” she wails dramatically.

“We train with Liam every day,” Félicité says, ignoring Louis’ spluttering protests. “We know what her stamina is like.”

“Yeah, Louis, you’ve been slacking ever since you met Harry,” Lottie adds. 

“Looks like I win,” Liam says. She gets up with far more pep than Louis feels she has the right to. She holds out her hand and Liam grabs it, yanking her up off the floor.

“Right. Well. For that I get first shower,” Louis says and she sprints off as fast as she can, laughing the entire time.

“Louis.” 

Shit, that’s her mum. She stops at the foot of the stairs.

“Yes, Mum?” she asks. She can hear Liam walking with Lottie and Félicité, if her mum makes this quick Louis can still get the first shower.

“Invite Harry over for dinner, please,” Jay says, giving Louis a pointed look. “I want to meet my daughter’s mate.”

Louis’ face goes through a complex series of emotions. “We haven’t even had our first date yet!” she exclaims. 

“Then have your first date here?”

“ _Mum_. I can’t do that! I want to take her out somewhere nice.”

Jay purses her lips. “Alright,” she relents. “But I want Harry over for dinner in the next two weeks or I’ll go to her place to meet her.” 

The thing about her mum’s threats is that she always follows through. From the smile on Jay’s face, she knows that Louis remembers this all too well.

Damn her mum being the smart, cunning alpha that she is.

Jay kisses her cheek softly. “Go shower, poppet, you stink.”

~*~


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

Nerves fill Louis’ belly. 

She pulls up to Harry’s place, parks the car and shuts off the engine, all with her claws poking out. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. It won’t do her any good to have to cancel their first date because she can’t get herself under control. 

“The sun… the moon… the truth,” she mutters to herself, staring at her hands in her lap. If she sits in her car any longer, Harry is going to wonder what is going on. 

Slowly, her claws retract and she breathes a sigh of relief. She gets out of the car and smooths her hands down her dress. She never wears dresses outside of her school uniform, but it’s her and Harry’s first date, and, well, she wants it to be memorable.

Liam had balked when Louis said she wanted to wear a dress, but helped Louis pick something from her wardrobe that wasn’t something Louis had previously worn to a funeral. It was hard – there weren’t many dresses in her wardrobe at all. In the end, they found something that had been stuffed to the back and thankfully, it still fit. 

It’s a soft blue colour, and Louis thinks it really brings out her eyes. She had nervously applied a little bit of eyeshadow, and swiped her lip balm across her lips once before shoving it into her handbag. 

She hesitates at Harry’s door. She hopes that her parents aren’t home – she’s not ready to meet them just yet. Especially not before their first date. She wants tonight to just be about them.

Louis pushes the doorbell.

Thankfully, Harry answers. 

Louis’ mouth goes dry. 

Harry looks absolutely radiant. She’s wearing a dress, too, and it stops just above her knees. It’s pink in colour, and she has a cardigan hanging over her arm. 

“Hi,” Harry says breathlessly.

“Hi. You… You look… _Wow_.”

Harry giggles. “You too.” She presses a chaste kiss to Louis’ lips and starts towards Louis’ car. Louis hastily follows her. 

They get in and Louis has to physically force herself to stop looking at Harry and start the car.

“So! Where are we going?” Harry asks. “Or is it a surprise?”

“It’s a surprise,” Louis replies, giving Harry a cheeky grin. “It’s just a small, family owned restaurant that I’ve been to with my family a few times.”

“Sounds lovely,” Harry says. She reaches over and puts her hand on Louis’ thigh. Louis forgets to breathe.

Once they’re seated at the restaurant (in a corner table that Louis had booked specifically), Louis finally feels like she can breathe. Nerves still flutter in her stomach, but this is Harry – Harry who is funny, is kind, has the best personality ever, and Harry that she is wildly attracted to. 

It feels very grown up to be sitting here on a date with the girl that Louis wants to spend the rest of her life with. 

Their server comes and takes their orders, and Harry’s eyes widen slightly when Louis orders a steak.

“I didn’t picture you as the steak kind,” Harry comments once they’ve been left alone again.

Louis shrugs. “I’ve got many secrets,” she teases. 

“I look forward to learning them all,” Harry says softly. She reaches across the table for Louis’ hand. She’s polite enough that she doesn’t even comment on how sweaty Louis’ palms are.

Their server comes back with their drinks and Louis takes the time to hastily wipe her hands on the skirt of her dress, trying to dry them off. She takes a sip of her drink and tries to remember that it’s _just_ a date. She and Harry have already kissed a lot – they know they like each other. And they’ve been getting to know each other over text messages, too. Which has been really lovely. 

“I’m really nervous,” Louis admits.

Harry lets out a breath, a smile on her face. “I thought I was the only one.”

Louis shakes her head. “Definitely not.”

Harry takes Louis’ hand again. “We shouldn’t be nervous,” she says, playing with Louis’ fingers. “We’ve touched each other’s boobs, nerves shouldn’t be happening right now.”

Louis chokes on air. She glances around, hoping that no one heard them. She’s relieved when no one is looking their way. “ _Harry_.”

“What?” Harry asks, an innocent look on her face. “I like your boobs.”

“I like yours, too.”

Harry beams at her. “Though, we probably should’ve had our first date _before_ doing the boob touching.”

Louis snorts. “So we’re a little backwards? That’s okay, isn’t it?”

“More than okay,” Harry replies. The look she gives Louis makes Louis’ toes curl in her shoes. Her heart thuds in her chest. 

They’re interrupted a moment later by their server returning with their meals, and Louis quickly thanks them, giving a small smile. She picks up her cutlery and cuts into her dinner, inhaling its delicious scent. 

“Tell me your secrets, Louis Tomlinson,” Harry says before taking her first bite of dinner.

Louis chews her mouthful slowly. “I don’t really have many.”

Harry’s eyes twinkle. “I’ll go first. I did gymnastics for eight years.”

“But you trip over _air_.”

“I know! I’m a massive contradiction.” Harry’s giggle makes Louis inexplicably happy. 

“I knew I was gay when I was about five years old,” Louis confesses, looking down at her plate. She cuts her food into bite-sized pieces and pops one into her mouth. She chews it slowly. “But I didn’t come out until last year.”

“I was twelve,” Harry replies. Her foot presses against Louis’ under the table. “I was _petrified_ because I had no idea what was going on. But a girl joined my gymnastics team and I couldn’t stop staring at her. I just thought that I wanted to be like her, you know?” 

Louis nods, she gets it. 

“But I realised that I didn’t want to just be like her, or be her friend, I wanted to kiss her.”

“Did you?”

The blush that promptly covers Harry’s cheeks confirms it. “We kissed once. But then we had to move and I never saw her again.”

“Do you move a lot?” Louis asks, taking another bite of food.

“Every few years,” Harry replies. “My step-Dad and my Uncle Richie run a private company that sells all over the country, so we move a lot when there’s a demand for their products. It’s pretty boring. Dad’s retired now, and Uncle Richie has taken over the business. Dad says he just wants to have a steady job for once. I think he’s getting too old to move, to be honest. I’m just glad we’re going to be here for my entire sixth form, I don’t think I could handle moving in the middle of doing A Levels.”

“Yeah, that would be the worst,” Louis agrees. “What does your dad sell?”

“Weapons. I _hate_ it – but Uncle Richie is a massive hunter,” Harry says with a shrug. She takes a sip of her water. “I hate that they hunt animals. Just leave them be, you know? I guess I should be thankful that they’re not out hunting elephants, but it still makes me mad.”

Louis nods in her agreement. “I agree, and yet I’m sitting here, eating steak…”

Harry grins. “Don’t feel too bad, I’m in the same boat as you.” Her foot presses a little firmer against Louis’. “Tell me about your sisters?”

Louis smiles. She launches into stories about her sisters. How she was there in the delivery room with her mum when the twins were born, and how she got to cut the umbilical cord of one of them while Mark did the other. She loves talking about her sisters, and spends the rest of their dinner talking about them. Harry patiently listens, asking questions which Louis is only too happy to answer.

“I love that you’re so close with them all,” Harry says. “I wish I had little sisters. I have Gemma, but it’s not the same. She’s off in France for uni – it makes me miss her a lot.”

“You can share my sisters,” Louis says. “Any time you want they’re yours. They love new people.”

Harry smiles. “I might just take you up on that.”

They order dessert to share. Louis feels spectacularly cheesy letting Harry eat off her fork, but she does it and she doesn’t care. She loves the looks Harry’s giving her, like she can’t wait for them to be alone again. Louis absolutely feels the same. 

She pays for their dinner, and Harry says that she’s got it next time. Even though Louis _knows_ they’re girlfriends, the prospect of _next time_ makes her giddy inside.

“What should we do now?” Harry asks as she climbs into Louis’ car. “I don’t want to go home yet.”

“Then we won’t,” Louis replies. She drives towards the edge of her property where there’s a clearing and a perfect view of the night sky. She takes a blanket from the boot of her car and slings it over one arm.

When they reach the perfect spot, she lays it out on the ground and sits down, patting next to her for Harry to sit down, too.

“God, it’s beautiful out here,” Harry says, looking up at the sky. Stars glint down at them, winking and letting them know that they’re not alone.

“So my mum wants to meet you,” Louis says after a while. “She thinks we’ve been girlfriends long enough and has threatened to come over to your place to meet you if I don’t bring you home soon.”

Harry giggles into Louis’ shoulder. She laces their fingers together. “My mum practically said the same.”

Louis looks over at Harry lying next to her. “My mum is a bit intimidating. It comes with being a lawyer. Just to warn you.”

“Duly noted,” she says softly. She leans over and kisses Louis soundly on the lips. 

They lose themselves in it. 

Nothing else exists but the two of them and this moment. Hours could pass and Louis would have no idea. 

She shifts so that she’s hovering over Harry, pressing her into the blanket as they kiss. Harry’s hand cards through her hair, resting at the back of her head. She still makes the best noises.

A noise breaks them apart. A howl. Louis wants to close her eyes – that’s Liam’s howl. She has no idea why Liam would be howling right now, and a massive part of her just wants to find out, but she can’t just up and leave right now.

“See! I _told_ you I saw a wolf!” Harry says, sitting up. 

“That’s really odd,” Louis lies. “That’s my mum’s property right there, we haven’t seen any wolves.”

“ _That_ is yours? That whole thing?”

Louis nods. “We live in a manor in the middle of the woods. It’s a family home, passed down from generation to generation.”

Harry’s eyes widen dramatically. “That’s so cool!”

Louis grins at her. “Let’s see how cool you think it is when you’re stuck in there with my mum interrogating you and it’s a forty-five minute walk back into town.”

Harry’s grin lights up the night sky brighter than the stars do. “I’m looking forward to it.”

~*~

Harry meeting Louis’ family goes _surprisingly_ well.

Of course, Louis’ _entire_ family is there. She had asked her mum if it could just be them and Liam and Jay had kindly patted her cheek and said that it was impossible at such short notice. Louis doesn’t often wish that her family was smaller, but in times like this, she absolutely does.

Harry is already nervous to meet her mum, but to meet the entire pack? It’s a bit crazy.

She spends the entire day reminding her sisters that they _cannot under any circumstances_ say anything wolf related, or mention pack bonding, or even attempt to scent mark Harry. Which she knows that the twins would do without even realising it. They’re still babies to Louis, so she would forgive them, but Harry would undoubtedly think that it was odd.

Uncle Emmett cooks, which is perfect. He is the best cook in the family, and he loves providing for the family, so it’s a double win. Louis thanks him profusely, offering her help wherever he needs it, but like the smart man he is, he declines. Louis is _rubbish_ in the kitchen.

Her mum promises not to interrogate Harry _too_ much, and quieter, so no one else hears, she promises that she’ll keep Mark in line. He hasn’t apologised for the full moon incident. Louis doesn’t expect that he will. It makes her mad.

“Nervous?” Liam asks as Louis takes off her shirt. They’re in Louis’ bedroom, where Louis had been trying on different shirts to wear to dinner, but she’s having a hard time concentrating on breathing let alone choosing an outfit to wear. 

“ _Yes_ ,” Louis replies emphatically. “Come for a run with me?” 

“Yeah, of course.” 

They undress and change into their wolf forms. Louis leaps from her window. She still has plenty of time before Harry is due over, and this will help pass the time and get rid of her endless nervous energy.

Liam plays hard. She’s the best – she can tell that Louis needs this, needs the distraction, and she doesn’t hold back. 

They roll around in the woods, nipping at each other and chasing each other between the trees. Being a wolf calms Louis like nothing else can. She succumbs to the feelings, her surroundings, and the wolf’s instincts. She noses along the ground, following the scent of something particularly interesting. It takes her mind off her worries for the time, and that’s what she needs.

Liam stumbles into her from over a fallen log and if Louis were able to laugh while she was like this, she would. Liam is usually so graceful. She rarely falls over as a human let alone as a wolf. This is an endless source of amusement for Louis.

Suddenly, Liam changes back into her human form.

Confused, Louis does the same. She doesn’t even care that they’re standing naked in the middle of the woods.

“What’s wrong?” Louis asks.

Liam’s head whips around, she turns on the spot, nose in the air. “I can smell something.”

Louis frowns. She scents the air as well, but she can’t smell anything off. “Like what?”

“Something… Something _good_.”

Liam’s off in the direction of where the smell is undoubtedly coming from before Louis even registers what she’s doing.

“Liam!” she calls. 

It’s a thing of beauty watching Liam phase on the fly. It’s not something she does often, because shifting takes so much concentration and energy, but they can move faster as wolves, as is proven by Louis having to stop to shift again. She’s fast though, and she catches up to Liam in no time. 

Liam stops, panting. Her head cocks to the side and she trots after the scent at a much slower pace. Louis follows.

There, in the clearing that Louis and Harry had been in after their first date, is a girl sitting on a picnic blanket. She’s alone. Liam sits on her haunches and watches. Louis watches Liam for a few beats before turning her attention back to the girl.

She looks a little older than they are, so she’s probably in university already. She’s very pretty. Has long, dark hair that cascades down her back. Louis blinks. She looks at Liam. 

The pieces slot together just as someone else appears – another girl. She joins the first girl on the picnic blanket. They share a kiss. 

Liam looks away. 

She’s sprinting off before Louis realises it. Shit, she moves fast when she’s determined. Louis struggles to keep up.

Instead of changing back when they reach the house, Liam rounds it until she comes to her own open window. She soars through it and before Louis can even get her paws in the air to jump, Liam is closing it behind her.

With a soft growl, Louis leaps through her own window and quickly pulls on some clothes. She shakes out her hair and shoves it into a messy bun on the top of her head before making her way to Liam’s room. Music is blasting but she knows that Liam can hear her. The door is locked. It doesn’t stop Louis from knocking.

“What’s going on?” Lottie asks as she appears out of nowhere. She looks at Louis, a frown on her face. 

“Nothing. I just need to talk to Liam,” Louis says, banging on Liam’s door again. 

“That’ll have to wait – Harry’s here.”

“Shit.”

“That’s a weird reaction to have to your girlfriend coming over,” Lottie says.

Louis is torn. She rests her forehead on the door. “Liam, I know you can hear me,” she says. “I’m here, okay? When you want to talk come and get me. I don’t care if Harry’s here… well, I care a little bit, but I’m yours, alright? Just say the word and I’m _yours_.” She places her palm on the door, lingers for a few seconds and then pushes away.

Lottie gives her an odd look. 

“Come and get me if you see Liam before I do, yeah?” 

Lottie nods. Louis kisses the top of her head before dashing down the stairs. She almost falls off the bottom step when she sees Harry. She looks even more beautiful every time Louis sees her. 

“Hi,” she says softly. 

“Hi.” God, she wants to kiss Harry _so badly_ , and if the look in Harry’s eyes is anything to go by, she’s not alone.

“Um, I bought flowers for your mum, I hope that’s okay?” Harry asks, holding the bunch of wildflowers out. 

“She’ll love them,” Louis replies. She takes Harry’s free hand and ignores the stares of her siblings as she leads Harry into her mum’s home office. 

“Mum,” she says softly. “This is Harry.”

Jay looks up. She sets her pen down and stands. She rounds the desk and gives them a soft smile. “I’m Jay, it’s lovely to finally meet the girl who has captured my daughter’s attention so wholly.”

Harry promptly flushes. Louis loves it. “’M Harry,” she says. “These are for you.”

Jay accepts the flowers and brings them to her face, inhaling deeply. “These are wonderful, thank you, Harry.”

Harry beams. “I didn’t want to show up empty handed.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, poppet,” Jay says fondly. “Now, come meet the rest of the family. The girls have all promised to be on their best behaviour.”

Harry shoots Louis a slightly panicked look. Louis takes Harry’s hand again and kisses the back of it before leading her from the room. 

Daisy and Phoebe are first, both wanting to touch Harry’s curls. Louis can’t blame them, really. She wants to touch Harry’s curls all of the time. 

Uncle Nate comes inside with Félicité and they both introduce themselves.

“Auntie Ashley and Uncle Joseph took the kids out for the day, so you don’t have to worry about them,” Jay says, appearing with a vase in hand and her new bouquet of flowers tucked safely inside. She sets it down on the mantelpiece. 

“Oh thank god,” Louis mutters. Harry shoots her a quizzical look. “That’s five less family members for you to meet.” Harry looks relieved at this.

Uncle Emmett appears from the kitchen and extends his hand to Harry for her to shake. “I’m Emmett, your chef this evening.”

“And _every_ evening,” Uncle Nate says as he walks passed. He pats Uncle Emmett’s bum and Louis rolls her eyes. “Best chef in England, I say.” 

“Where’s Dad?” Louis asks, biting her lip.

“He’s running some errands,” Jay replies. “He’ll be back for dinner.”

Louis nods. “Apart from Lottie, that’s everyone. C’mon, I’ll show you my room.”

Louis purposely avoids her mum’s knowing gaze as she leads Harry up the stairs. Music is still blasting from Liam’s room and Louis wants nothing more than to just burst into her room and force Liam to talk to her, but she knows it’s no use.

She lets Harry look around at her things, feeling secure in her knowledge that she removed anything remotely werewolf-y. 

“Comfy bed,” Harry says, sitting on it. She toes off her shoes and gives Louis a _look_ that has her joining Harry in a heartbeat.

Their lips meet and Louis feels her entire body relax. They move so they’re both comfortable against the pillows. Louis’ hand immediately slides up the back of Harry’s shirt, seeking out her smooth skin. Harry whines softly, arching into Louis’ touch. 

She loses herself in it, in Harry. Harry’s lips are soft and familiar against her own and taste just as sweet as Louis has come to memorise and love. She feels like they shouldn’t be doing this, not in a house filled with people who have super hearing and can hear every single breath she takes if they concentrate hard enough.

That thought has her reluctantly pulling back from Harry.

“We should stop,” Louis says rather breathlessly. “Mum will no doubt check on us to make sure we’re _behaving_.”

Harry grins. “Isn’t half the fun the thrill of getting caught?”

“Not in this house,” Louis mutters against Harry’s lips. She pulls back and sits up, feeling like if she puts a little distance between them it will help the temptation to just keep kissing her.

“So you have… three uncles and one auntie living here with you?” Harry asks, sitting up as well. 

Louis nods. “Yeah,” she replies. “And my three cousins, too.”

“…That’s a lot of family members in one house.”

Louis shrugs. “We have the space,” she says. “And like I said the other day, it’s a family home. Mum’s the eldest, but after grandma died, she couldn’t bear to be apart from her brother and sister, so they stayed. They each have their own wing of the house, so there’s some semblance of privacy.”

“It must be nice having such a big family,” Harry says. Louis remembers what she said the other day about missing her sister.

“Let’s see what you think after an evening with them,” Louis teases. “The twins want to spend as much time with you as possible, by the way. They’re a bit infatuated.”

Harry’s smile makes Louis’ insides melt. “Well, let’s go spend some time with them, shall we?” She gets up off the bed and holds out her hand for Louis to take. She pulls her in for a kiss and Louis sighs, her entire body practically sagging against Harry’s.

“Let’s go, then.”

Once they’re settled in the lounge room, colouring in with the twins, Louis gets up. She gives Harry a brief kiss and tells her she’ll be back in a moment. With a bit of concentration, she can still hear the music coming from Liam’s room.

“Mum?”

Jay looks up from her work and Louis closes the office door behind her. “Harry seems very sweet,” she says.

Louis nods. She sits down on the sofa in the corner of the room. “Liam met her mate.”

Jay’s attention snaps fully to Louis. “Elaborate.”

“We were in the woods just before,” Louis begins, “and we were wolves having a play, and Liam suddenly took off. We saw this girl sitting by herself in the clearing just outside of our property line. I think she has a girlfriend already. She kissed someone else. We both saw it and Liam just ran. I’ve never seen her like that, Mum.” She’s utterly heartbroken that she can’t just fix this for Liam. It’s one thing finding your mate and navigating _that_ , but it’s an entire other issue to meet your mate and them already be in a relationship with someone else.

“Is that why I can hear Nirvana on repeat?” Jay asks. Louis nods. It’s Liam’s go-to grunge music for when she’s emoting and doesn’t know how to express herself properly.

“I don’t know what to do,” Louis admits. “She was there for me when I met Harry… But she’s shutting me out.”

Jay gives her a soft look. She closes over the notebook in front of her and sets her pen down. She gets up and walks around the desk to face Louis. “You’re doing everything you can, poppet,” she says, resting against the edge of the desk, facing Louis. “She’ll need you when she comes out of her room, and you’ll be there for her, like you always are.”

“She’s already been through _so much_ ,” Louis says with a sigh. “But this, too? It’s going to break her.”

“She’s a lot stronger than you think,” Jay says with a pointed look. Louis knows her mum is right, but Louis just wants to protect Liam at all costs.

“Can you go check on her? Please?”

Jay smiles. “Of course I will, she’s my daughter, too.”

“Thanks, Mum.”

“You’d better go rescue Harry from the twins, I can hear them getting rowdy.”

Louis hastily kisses her mum’s cheek before dashing from the room. She walks back into the lounge room to see the twins on either side of Harry, their grubby little hands in her hair, doing god only knows what to it.

“Hey,” she says, trying not to startle them lest they pull on Harry’s hair too much. “I think you’re hurting Harry, girls.”

Harry’s expression is a constant wince at the moment. She mouths ‘thank you’ to Louis, who just grins.

“C’mon, let her hair go.”

Daisy’s hand gets caught and she tugs, causing Harry to yelp.

“Sorry!” she exclaims. “You’ll heal though!”

Harry shoots Louis a bewildered look. 

“Daisy,” Louis says. “You don’t like when people pull on your hair, Harry doesn’t like it, either.”

Daisy looks suitably chastised and she apologises again.

“Can I use your loo?” Harry asks, getting up off the floor. Louis nods and gives her directions to it. 

Once Harry is out of earshot, she rounds on the twins. 

“Harry isn’t a wolf like us, she can’t heal that fast,” she says softly, urgently, so they understand the importance of what she’s saying.

“We’re sorry,” Phoebe says. She nudges Daisy who nods.

“Why isn’t Harry a wolf?” Daisy asks. 

“She wasn’t born that way,” Louis replies. “Not like we were.”

“Doesn’t she want to be a werewolf?” Phoebe asks, blinking up at Louis with her big, inquisitive eyes. 

“I don’t know,” Louis replies honestly. 

“Have you asked her?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Can she play with us after dinner? I like how she colours in.”

Louis kisses the top of Phoebe’s head, then Daisy’s. “We’ll see, alright?”

“Okay.”

The twins turn back to their pictures, finishing whatever colouring in they had started earlier. Harry appears a moment later, her hair pulled back into a messy bun on the top of her head. Louis is so in love with her.

“Why do you have a leaf stuck in your hair?” Harry asks as she approaches. She plucks it out and holds it in her hand for Louis to see.

“I was in the woods earlier,” Louis replies, taking the leaf and shoving it in her pocket. There’s no doubt that she’ll forget about that and it’ll end up going through the washing machine. Which she’ll probably get told off for.

Harry’s lips quirk into an amused smile. 

“Dinner is ready!” Uncle Emmett calls.

“Go wash up,” Louis says as the twins quickly get up. “Get Uncle Nate to help you if you need it!” She shakes her head as they scamper off, Nate following behind them. “C’mon.”

Louis leads Harry to the dining room. She pulls out a chair for Harry and says she’ll be right back. She quickly goes to wash her own hands and by the time she’s come back, only Lottie and Félicité are sitting down. She takes her seat next to Harry just as Uncle Emmett comes in with trays of food.

“It’s taco night, Harry, I hope you like them?” he asks.

Harry nods. “I do.”

Louis reaches for her hand under the table and squeezes. “Mum really likes the flowers you got her,” she says softly, knowing that almost everyone in the family can hear their conversation. 

Harry beams. “I’m glad. I love flowers so I figured they couldn’t hurt.”

“You’re the sweetest girlfriend ever.” She leans over and kisses Harry briefly. And, of course, that’s when her dad walks into the room.

He makes a noise and Louis glances over at him.

“Dad, this is Harry, my girlfriend.”

Mark nods in Harry’s direction. “I’m Mark, it’s nice to meet you.” Lie. Louis can literally hear his heartbeat change. She makes a fist with her free hand.

Liam appears a second later and Louis immediately searches her face, trying to see answers that she doesn’t know will be there. Liam sits down on Louis’ other side, as usual, and Louis reaches over, taking Liam’s hand in hers.

“I’m fine, Lou,” she mutters. 

“Alright, everyone, sit down, sit down,” Uncle Emmett says. 

All of the food has been put on the table and everything smells incredible. Louis waits for her mum to sit at the head of the table before she reaches for a taco shell to pass to Harry. 

“Help yourself to whatever fillings you like,” Louis says.

“Thanks. There’s so much to choose from!”

“We’re big eaters,” Louis says. She fills a taco of her own and immediately takes a huge bite. The crunch of the shell muffles a lot of the noise of the conversations going around the table. She can see her mum muttering something to Mark, but doesn’t focus her hearing in on the conversation. She doesn’t like to intrude on her parents’ conversations unless it’s necessary. And right now it isn’t necessary. The only things she cares about is making sure that Harry is enjoying herself, and that Liam is okay, too. 

“So, Harry,” Jay starts once everyone has almost finished their first taco. “Louis says your mum works at the hospital?”

Harry nods. “She’s a surgeon. Just a general one, nothing specialised, but she likes the work.”

“And what does your dad do?” Jay asks.

“He’s an accountant now,” Harry replies. “He says that numbers make sense anywhere we go.”

“What did he do beforehand?” Mark asks. 

Louis chews slowly, hoping that this conversation doesn’t take a turn.

“Oh, he sold weapons to the military,” Harry replies. “He and my uncle ran the business together but Dad got tired of travelling so much. So we picked a random spot in England to move to and it happened to be here. Which I’m really grateful for.” She says the last part to Louis, giving her a fond look. Louis’ heart melts in her chest. She reaches under the table and gently squeezes Harry’s knee.

“And what about you, poppet? What do you hope to do once you’ve finished university?” Jay asks kindly.

“Actually, I want to be a lawyer,” Harry replies. 

Jay smiles at her. “An excellent choice.” Her eyes twinkle, and the tension in Louis’ stomach eases a little knowing that her mum approves. Mark still looks off, but Louis just puts that down to him being him these days.

Thankfully, the conversation shifts to football, with Uncle Nate dominating that part of the conversation. Louis puts another taco shell on Harry’s plate, and then her own. 

The rest of dinner goes pleasantly, with no more huge questions directed at Harry. Harry insists on helping with the dishes, so Louis does, too. Despite the fact that they have a dishwasher, she stands there with a towel, ready to dry whatever Harry washes. 

“Your family is really nice,” Harry says as she passes Louis a plate.

“Yeah, they’re alright,” she replies teasingly. “The twins _love_ you. I’m pretty sure they’re talking to mum to plan your adoption.”

“They’re the cutest,” Harry says with a grin. “And your mum is pregnant with another set of twins! She’s super woman. I don’t know how she does it.”

“Me either, to be honest. It’s a good thing we like them so much.”

“You love them,” Harry says fondly, setting down the cutlery she’s just washed. “Anyone with eyes can see how much you love your family. _Especially_ Liam.”

“She’s my sister,” Louis says easily. “I love _all_ of my sisters.”

“Your uncles are cute, too,” Harry adds. “It must’ve been nice growing up with queer people in the house. You know, other than yourself.”

Louis nods. “Yeah, it was,” she replies. “It was _normal_. I guess that’s why I knew how gay I was when I was only five.”

“How come you didn’t come out until later, then? Surely your family would’ve accepted you easily because of your uncles?”

Louis’ heart thuds in her chest. She knows that anyone could potentially be listening in on their conversation. “Sometimes it’s harder when it’s someone’s own kids… I wanted to, believe me, I wanted to. But I was just scared. I’d heard stories about how people’s parents were more than fine with other people being gay, but when it came to their own kids they kicked them out.

“And there was a massive part of me that didn’t _want_ to be a lesbian,” Louis says. She pauses and sighs. “I don’t feel that way now, obviously, but I was _already_ different, I didn’t want to give people another reason to dislike me. So I was scared to come out, even to my own family. I… Well, I did try to kiss a couple of boys but they were gross and smelled _so weird_.” Her lips quirk at that particular memory. “But even though there were _plenty_ of boys that I could’ve asked out, I never wanted to. I only ever wanted to be with girls. And it took me a long time to accept that.”

Harry pauses. She sighs and dries her hands on the end of the towel Louis is holding. “Compulsive heterosexuality is so toxic,” she starts, “people don’t realise just _how bad_ it is to force such gendered constructions on their kids. I never want to do that to my kids.”

“Me either,” Louis breathes. She sets the towel down and cups Harry’s face in her hands. “How did I get so lucky to find you?” Her voice is barely a whisper, but the smile on Harry’s face lets her know that she heard.

“We’re clearly meant to be,” Harry replies. Her eyes shine happily. Louis sees her entire future in there. She gently kisses Harry on the lips, being mindful that this is a public area and her family can wander in and out as they please.

They stay like that for a few long moments before Louis reluctantly pulls back.

“We’d better get these finished,” she mumbles, unable to open her eyes just yet. Harry’s lips press once more against her own before she’s stepping away completely.

They finish the rest of the dishes in companionable silence, Louis unable to stop smiling. 

“The twins want Harry to read to them,” Lottie says as they’re finishing up.

Louis glances over to Harry. “You don’t have to say yes.”

Harry smiles and shakes her head. “I don’t mind. I like that they like me so much.”

“I’ll come with you. They can be _very_ persuasive when they tell you that they’re allowed three stories,” Louis says, hanging the towel over handle on the oven door to dry. “They’re only allowed _one_.”

The twins are in their beds when Louis pushes the door open. Jay is sitting in the rocking chair that is still in the corner, and she’s just finishing up a story when they step into the room. She kisses Daisy and Phoebe good night and winks at Louis before she leaves the room.

“Do I pick a story?” Harry whispers, looking at the twins’ overflowing bookshelf.

Louis shakes her head. “Nah, they always want this story to go to sleep.” She plucks the only book sitting on its own on the top shelf. “Uncle Emmett wrote it for them. Auntie Ashley did the drawings.”

She passes the book to Harry and feels pride surge in her chest when Harry gently caresses the cover. She sits down in the middle of the floor and opens it, the twins looking over the edges of their beds with eager interest. 

Harry’s voice is soothing as she reads. The twins’ eyes are soon drooping shut, and Louis settles them back off the edges so neither of them fall out. She pulls their blankets up, tucking it under their chins. She kisses each of them on the tops of their heads as Harry ends the story.

“Kiss Liam wolfie,” Daisy mumbles, pushing her teddy towards Louis. Louis kisses the teddy on the top of the head, too.

She does the same to Phoebe, who yawns widely. “Be a wolf, Lou?” she asks softly. Louis shakes her head. 

“Goodnight, Phoebe,” she whispers, kissing her soft head before leading Harry from the room. She closes the door behind her and leads Harry towards her own room.

“Your family really like wolves, hey?” Harry says as Louis settles on her bed. She freezes.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, just a few things I’ve seen around the house,” Harry comments. “And the twins’ story. And their wolf teddies. I guess you’re probably used to it so you don’t see it.”

Louis nods, grateful for the save. “Yeah.”

Harry joins her on the bed, curling into Louis’ side. “I’ve had a really good night,” she whispers, laying her head on Louis’ shoulder.

“Me too.” Louis kisses the top of her head, and Harry presses her face into Louis’ neck, unintentionally scent marking her. Her scent mingles with Louis’ every time she does this. Louis never wants their scents to be apart ever again.

~*~


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

It’s only fair that since Harry had to meet Louis’ family, that Louis meets her parents. She knows that she is significantly luckier since it’s only Harry’s parents that she lives with, not a whole pack like Louis does, but it doesn’t stop the nerves from being any less intense.

She pushes the doorbell to Harry’s house and runs her hands down her outfit. She’s opted for black slacks, akin to her school trousers, but a bit more formal, and a nice shirt in a rich, emerald green colour. She had pestered Liam into helping her choose something, and they came up with this from Louis’ wardrobe.

Things with Liam had been better. She had finally let Louis in, and they had spent the night curled around each other in Liam’s bed after Harry had left that evening. 

Louis doesn’t know how Liam does it – she would be absolutely _shattered_ if she had finally found Harry, only for her to have a girlfriend already. She couldn’t voice this to Liam, though. She feels absolutely awful for her sister – she gets the raw end of the stick every single time with these things. 

Louis has planned a sister day for them tomorrow. The full moon is next week, so they’re going to be spending a lot of time together throughout the week, but she wants to treat Liam to something special, something to take her mind off the fact that things don’t seem to go her way. So Louis is taking them into London and they’re going to spend the day doing whatever they want, as long as they’re having as much fun as possible. Louis has already planned for them to go on the London Eye – she knows that Liam will enjoy that a lot. She loves being able to see things from up so high. 

The sound of footsteps approaching pulls Louis out of her thoughts and she adjusts the bouquet of flowers in her hands. After Harry had brought Jay flowers, Louis couldn’t well show up empty handed. If she was older, she would’ve brought wine with her, but being only seventeen, she knows that wouldn’t be well received by her girlfriend’s parents.

Harry opens the door a moment later and Louis lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She’s relieved to see Harry and not her mum or dad. 

“Hi,” Harry greets her, stepping aside so that Louis can enter the house. She kisses Louis’ cheek softly and grins at her, nodding to the flowers in her hand. “Inspire you, did I?”

“Can’t have you one upping me,” Louis teases. Harry grins. 

“C’mon, Mum and Dad are in the kitchen making dinner.”

Louis takes a shaky breath and follows Harry. Nerves tug harder at her stomach muscles. She licks her lips and nods to herself – she can totally do this.

“Mum, Dad, this is Louis, my girlfriend.”

Louis’ cheeks immediately go red as Harry’s parents both turn around to greet her. 

“I’m Anne. It’s lovely to finally meet you, Louis,” she says with a warm smile.

“These are for you,” Louis says, thrusting the bouquet out. Anne takes the flowers from her, and does exactly what Louis’ mum did – take a big sniff. They’re sweet, even to Louis’ sensitive nose. 

“And I’m Robin, Harry’s step-dad.” He offers out his hand and Louis shakes it. “Ooh, that’s a firm grip you’ve got.”

Louis blushes harder. “Um, yeah, sorry?”

“Don’t be,” Robin says, waving it off. “Harry’s told us a lot about you.”

“Good things, I hope?” 

“The best, silly,” Harry says, reaching over to take Louis’ hand. “We’re going up to my room for a bit.”

“Door stays open,” Anne says pointedly. Harry nods and leads Louis from the room. 

She pushes her door over so just a fraction is open and turns to face Louis, giving her a beaming smile. 

“Hi,” she says, softer this time. She kisses Louis and Louis’ entire body tingles. 

“Hi,” Louis breathes. Her hands reflexively hold Harry’s hips. She mentally curses the fact that Harry is wearing a dress because she can’t untuck her shirt and touch her skin, not like Harry is doing to her now. 

Louis lets out a soft moan as Harry’s hands touch her back, moving upwards until she’s cupping Louis’ boob over her bra. Her breath hitches in her throat at the touch.

“This isn’t fair,” she mumbles against Harry’s lips. 

“What isn’t?”

“I can’t touch you, you’re wearing a dress.”

“Oh. I guess I am. Do you want me to stop?”

“God no.”

They move until the backs of Louis’ legs hit Harry’s bed and she quickly moves so she’s sitting comfortably. Harry stands between her legs, kissing her all the while. Without thinking, Louis grabs Harry under her thighs and hoists her until she’s sitting in her lap.

“Wow, you’re stronger than you look,” Harry mutters, quickly kissing Louis again. She’s thankful that nothing else is said about it.

She’s easily distracted – her hands are on the backs of Harry’s bare thighs and she strokes upwards, inching higher than she’s ever gone before. Harry takes one of Louis’ hands and puts it on her arse underneath her dress. Louis’ brain short-circuits. She lets out an unintelligible noise and Harry smiles against her lips. 

“I’ve wanted you to do this for ages now,” Harry says. Her breath is hot on Louis’ cheek. 

“Fuck,” Louis mumbles. She then hears footsteps ascending the stairs. “Love, you’d better get off, your mum is coming up the stairs.”

Harry cocks her head to the side. “…I don’t hear anything.”

Louis puts distance between them anyway. She licks her lips and smooths down her shirt just as Harry’s bedroom door swings wide open.

Anne looks between them. Harry is the picture of innocence, one leg crossed over the top of the other, her hands folded in her lap. Louis, however, is positive that her face (and how _red_ it is) betrays exactly what they had been doing.

“Go wash up, girls, dinner will be ready in five minutes,” Anne says simply.

They both nod.

“Thanks, Mum.”

Anne disappears and Louis lets out a long breath. 

“C’mon.”

They make their way back downstairs a few minutes later. Anne tells them to sit down, and Harry pulls Louis’ chair out for her. She flashes Louis a grin and they sit next to each other on the same side of the table. 

Anne and Robin bring out the food, which smells absolutely heavenly, Louis thinks. She can’t wait to eat, her stomach thinks it hasn’t been fed in a week with how much it’s enjoying the smells wafting from the food.

“I hope you like shepherd’s pie, Louis?” Anne asks.

“Absolutely,” Louis replies with a nod. She smiles back at Anne as she starts to serve up their dinner. 

The first questions are easy – asking about Louis’ parents and what they do. It’s simple stuff that she can answer without much thought. 

“Are you planning to go to university?” Anne asks.

Louis nods. She picks up her water and has a sip, washing down her food. “Yeah,” she says. “Yes. I want to be a secondary school teacher like my Uncle Nate.”

“And he lives with you, correct?”

“Yeah, both of my mum’s siblings do,” she replies. “We have a pretty big house, and mum needed the support after my grandma died.”

“It’s good that you’re all so close,” Robin says. “A friend of the family had the opposite happen when her mum died. She doesn’t speak to any of her siblings anymore.”

“That’s horrid.” Louis can’t imagine not talking to any of her sisters. She can’t even begin to comprehend what it would take for her family to no longer speak to one another. Short of someone marrying a hunter, but _that_ isn’t likely. They’re all very careful when it comes to hunters.

“Families can be tough,” Robin says with a nod before he takes a sip of his wine. “I’m glad that didn’t happen to your family.”

“Me too,” Louis replies honestly. “This is lovely, Mrs Twist.”

“Call me Anne,” she says with a fond tone. “And Robin cooked. I just did the sides.”

Louis turns to face Robin. “This is lovely, Mr Twist.”

Robin just smiles. “You can call me Robin.”

The rest of the dinner goes smoothly, Louis thinks. The conversation strays to how they’re doing in school, which Louis thinks is quite safe.

“Why don’t you both go sit in the lounge? Dad and I will clear up and bring dessert out in a bit,” Anne suggests. The way she says it makes Louis think that going back up to Harry’s room to snog for a bit is firmly out of the question. From the look on Harry’s face, Louis figures she isn’t far off the mark.

Even though Louis has been here a few times now, she’s hasn’t _really_ stopped to look at any of the photos lining the mantelpiece, or that are on the walls. She takes her time looking over each photograph, listening to Harry telling her who is in it, or what they were doing that day.

Louis’ heart stops when she sees a photo of Robin standing with another man in front of a wolf body, both of their hunting rifles in the photograph. 

“That’s my Uncle Richie,” Harry says. “They never hunted wolves actively, but this one was rabid. They did it a favour.” 

Heat pools in Louis’ veins. She can’t stop staring at it. There’s a familiarity about the wolf that she can’t place. She doesn’t recognise it, not from this small photograph, but it doesn’t stop her from feeling uncomfortable. It could just be a random wolf, but Louis can’t help but think _what if it wasn’t_?

She tears her gaze away from it, feeling queasy. 

“It’s weird how big wolves are, isn’t it?” Harry carries on, completely oblivious. “Most people just think they’re big dogs, but they’re _so much bigger_. Like the wolf I saw that first day of school? She was _huge_! Bigger than any of the other wolves I’ve seen, I mean.”

“Um, I just need to use the loo,” Louis says. 

“Oh, okay.”

Louis avoids Harry’s gaze as she makes her way to the toilet. She closes the lid and sits down on it, trying to get her breathing under control. It’s hard. She feels like she’s suffocating. 

Her phone buzzes in her pocket. 

“What’s wrong?” Zayn asks. “I can feel you from the other side of town. You’re freaking out.”

“I… I can’t breathe,” Louis whispers, tears falling down her face. “I…”

“Shit.” There’s a rustling noise. “C’mon, Louis, take a deep breath, babes.”

Louis struggles. She can feel her fingers aching in that familiar way. Her fangs fill her mouth and her vision shakes. She’s _changing_. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. 

“Call Liam,” she gets out, slurring around the thickness in her mouth. 

“She’ll be there in five minutes.”

The call disconnects. Louis’ phone clatters to the tiled floor. She’s shaking all over. She sides off the toilet seat and places her hands on the cold tiles, trying to get it to ground her. Her stomach heaves. She clenches her eyes shut, trying to ride through the waves of nausea. 

She whispers to herself, repeating the truth mantra over and over. It doesn’t work. Her phone buzzes on the floor but Louis ignores it. She _can’t breathe_.

“C’mon, Louis,” she mutters. “Just focus.”

She pulls up images of her family – her mum, her sisters, her uncles and cousins. She pictures every single one of their faces, trying to hold onto _something_. Her heart is jackhammering in her chest. She can’t see Harry like this. She can’t see Harry’s _parents_ like this – they’ll know something is up. She can’t just let Liam knock on the door and make up some excuse why Louis needs to get home. She _can’t_.

It’s that steely resolve that has Louis getting up off the floor, splashing water on her face and unlocking the door when she feels like she can actually face Harry again.

“Hey,” she says to Harry, her voice a little shaky. Thankfully she’s still alone in the lounge room. “Um, so this is awkward but I’ve just bled through my underwear…”

Harry’s eyes go wide. “Are you okay?”

She nods. “I called Liam to come and get me. I’m a bit embarrassed.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about!” Harry exclaims. “I’ve done that, too.”

“Periods, hey?”

Harry gives her a crooked smile.

“I’ll just say goodbye to your parents…”

She quickly explains to Anne and Robin that she needs to go – she knows that Harry will fill them in when she isn’t here to save embarrassing her further. She hates that she’s lying to Harry about this, but she can’t even begin to _think_ about telling her – not after seeing that photo. 

Another wave of nausea hits her.

The doorbell rings and Louis breathes a sigh of relief.

“I thought you had your period last week?” Harry asks as they walk towards the door. 

“Yeah, apparently my body didn’t get that memo,” Louis says with a purposeful sigh. “I’m sorry that I’ve ruined our night.”

“Don’t be silly,” Harry says softly. “Our night was pretty great to me.”

Guilt prickles Louis’ skin. “I’ll text you.” She kisses Harry soundly on the lips.

They say their goodbyes and Louis opens the door. She gives Liam a shaky smile and waves over her shoulder at Harry before climbing into the car. She watches Harry out of the window until she’s completely out of sight. Then she breaks down.

“Shit, Lou. What happened?”

Louis sobs. She takes a deep breath and just _sobs_. She cries for the entire car ride.

Liam pulls up to the clearing at the edge of their property. Zayn and Niall are already waiting. Niall grabs Louis in a hug the second they step out of the car.

“There was a photo,” Louis begins. “Of her dad and uncle standing in front of a… of a wolf body.”

“Shit,” Zayn says.

Liam growls.

“Was it a werewolf?” Niall asks, hesitation lacing her tone.

“I don’t know,” Louis admits. “But it… I couldn’t _breathe_. It was such a casual photo. They looked _proud_. And I had to get out of there.”

Liam wraps her arms around Louis in a tight hug. She rubs her cheek against Louis’, scent marking her. 

“How can I tell her after seeing something like that?” Louis asks, desperation lacing her voice. “I just…”

“I’ve seen it,” Zayn interrupts.

Louis’ attention snaps to her. “What?”

“I had a vision shortly after you became girlfriends,” Zayn starts. “She takes it well. Like, _really_ well. Something about someone called Leah?”

Louis’ breath catches in her throat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Zayn shrugs. “I figured I’d tell you when you talked to us when you were serious about telling Harry.”

“Especially since it’s not just your secret,” Niall adds. She gives Louis a pointed look. Louis knows that she’s right, but it’s still weird that Zayn had a vision about her and didn’t tell her.

“I can’t tell her after that, though,” Louis says brokenly. 

“Of course you can,” Liam says, surprising Louis. “She’s your mate, right? She’ll accept you for _you_. And besides, she wasn’t in the photo.”

It doesn’t make Louis feel better, but it helps a little. 

“I need to run,” Louis says, taking off her shirt. “Sorry for freaking out on you all.”

Zayn shrugs. “We’re family, yeah? That’s what we’re here for.”

Her words warm Louis’ heart. She shucks off her clothes, pointedly ignoring Niall’s wolf whistle and cheeky laughter as she takes off her underwear. She transforms, letting the wolf take over her body, needing to feel safe in its warmth and strength. 

“That still looks sick every time you do it,” Niall says with awe in her voice.

Louis trots over to her, licks a fat stripe up Niall’s neck and head butts Liam’s thigh before she’s running off into the dark of the woods.

~*~

London is _busy_.

Louis has only ever been a handful of times, but somehow between those times, she’s managed to forget just how _busy_ it gets. And how many people there are at all times. The scents are a little overwhelming, especially with the full moon so close.

But she and Liam are having fun. They’ve had a good day so far, and Louis is determined to make every minute count. 

Despite Louis’ shaky evening the night before, she’s been one hundred percent present for Liam – this day is meant to be about her sister, not about Louis. 

Which is how Louis finds herself in an arcade, dancing with Liam on the Dance Dance Revolution game. She has zero dancing skills and Liam knows this. It’s probably why she chose to exploit Louis’ weakness. But they’re having fun, so Louis doesn’t mind it too much. Seeing the happy smile on Liam’s face is all she needs. 

“C’mon, Lou!” Liam cheers happily, nudging Louis with her elbow. Louis almost falls off the square. She’s definitely running out of breath – this dance machine is going to kill her.

Liam’s laughter echoes around her when the song finally ends. Louis steps off onto the hard, unforgiving floor of the arcade, and she braces her hands on her thighs, leaning over. 

“That was horrid,” she says, panting. “Why did I let you pick the hardest level?”

Liam, who looks like she’s barely even broken a sweat, just gives Louis a cheeky grin. “Because you love me?”

Louis snorts. “I don’t know if I do anymore, to be honest.” She straightens, feeling her leg muscles protest at the movement. 

“C’mon, let’s walk around a bit, stretch your legs so they don’t cramp up.”

“If I didn’t have super healing, I’d hate you right now,” Louis comments as they make their way to the exit.

Liam gives her a _look_ and Louis shrugs.

“No one heard us,” she says. 

“We should still be careful, we’re somewhere else,” Liam says pointedly.

“C’mon, I need to sit and have a drink.”

They find a café and Louis sprawls in a seat while Liam orders them something to drink. She rests her head on her hand and closes her eyes, letting her body heal itself after the torture it just went through. 

Liam joins her a moment later, sliding a cup under her nose. “I got you a hot chocolate.”

“I love you,” Louis says. She takes a sip, letting the sweetness wash over her tongue. 

“Hey, um,” Liam begins. Louis looks up at her. She’s fiddling with the empty sugar packet on the table. “When we get home, could you maybe help me find her?”

“Of course,” Louis replies immediately. She reaches over and covers Liam’s hand with her own. “Whatever you want.”

Liam gives her a crooked smile. “I just… I know she was on a date. Or something. Or has a girlfriend. But I want her in my life, you know? And just because she’s my mate, it doesn’t mean that she has to be _my_ girlfriend, does it? That’s not a written rule somewhere, right?” she’s rambling. Under any other circumstances, Louis would find it endearing. She squeezes Liam’s hand again. 

“However _you_ want her in your life is what is important,” she replies honestly.

Liam nods like she’s making a decision. “Plus, I’m asexual, so she should–”

“Do _not_ finish that sentence,” Louis says sternly. She gives Liam a hard look. “Your mate can be your best friend. She can be whatever you need her to be. Kids that find their mates aren’t going to be sexual with them, that’s just _weird_. So you don’t have to be sexual with your mate either. And we had this conversation about sex already.”

“I know,” Liam says on an exhale. “I just… If she has a girlfriend. I feel like I’m… Like I’m actively planning to break them up when all I want to do is get to know her.”

“I get it,” Louis says softly. She takes a sip of her drink, trying to put her words into the right order. “I’ll help you find her. Okay?”

The smile Liam gives her makes Louis’ heart feel warm. “You’re the best sister ever.”

“I try,” Louis replies. 

They finish their drinks and wander around, poking into different shops that catch their eye. It’s late when they decide to head home. They stop at a McDonald’s drive-thru and order so much food that the person that hands over their food actively leans around, clearly wondering if there are more people in the car than them. Louis shoots them a grin and drives off, cackling to herself, and Liam shaking her head in the passenger’s seat.

Louis can smell home before she sees it. She can smell their family’s scents mingling together, creating a blanket of warmth and familiarity. She parks the car and gathers all of their rubbish, and their shopping bags, and heads inside, Liam right behind her.

“Girls. Good, you’re home,” Jay says, rubbing her stomach with one hand, a frustrated look on her face. 

“What’s up?” 

“Can you go and see to the twins? They won’t settle,” Jay says. “They want wolf cuddles, and they know I can’t while pregnant, and Nate and Joseph are the only other ones that can shift fully and they’re both out.”

“Of course we will, Mum,” Liam says. She kisses their mum’s cheek. Jay gives them a grateful look and they head up the stairs. 

There’s a nest already in the middle of the floor between their two beds. Daisy is sitting in the middle, tears shining in her big eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” Louis asks softly. She cups Daisy’s face in her hands.

“I had a nightmare that someone stole Liam wolfie!” she says, her voice wobbling. She holds her stuffed wolf out and Louis takes the teddy from her with great care. 

“We’ll protect her,” she says. “Li and I will be right back, okay?”

Daisy and Phoebe nod.

“Hurry!” Phoebe says urgently. 

Louis pulls the door over behind her. Their mum is standing just outside of Liam’s bedroom and they make their way over to her.

“Have they been like this all day?” Louis asks.

Jay nods. “I think it’s just the full moon approaching,” she replies. “You were like this as a kid, and sometimes Lottie was, too. Because they’re twins they feel it more.”

Louis hums. “Alright, I’ll stay with them. You don’t have to, Li.”

Liam shakes her head. “They want both of us. I don’t mind.”

It’s pointless to protest. Liam disappears into her room and Jay gives Louis a look that she can’t quite decipher.

“You’re a good sister, Louis,” she says. She kisses Louis’ cheek and then scent marks her. Louis immediately feels calmer. 

“I’ll be right back.” 

She hastily undresses in her room and transforms. She pushes the door open with her snout and trots down the hall. Jay is stroking Phoebe’s hair when Louis wanders in. Liam is already lying, curled around Daisy, so Louis takes her position behind Phoebe. Phoebe’s little hands curl into her fur, gripping tighter than usual. She hates that her sisters had nightmares and she wasn’t there to soothe them straight away. 

Jay stands. She flashes her red eyes at them both and Louis and Liam flash their eyes in response. 

“Good night, my sweet girls.”

Daisy and Phoebe are already fast asleep before Jay has even left the room.

Louis glances at Liam. She makes a snuffling sound and Liam does the same. She settles back down, ready to let sleep claim her.

~*~

It takes a week, but between the five of them, they locate Liam’s mate. Harry, bless her soul, has no clue what is going on. She just thinks that Liam has a crush on someone, and she gives lots of encouraging smiles and listens to anything Liam has to say about her crush. Which isn’t a lot. Especially considering she doesn’t even know the girl’s name.

But they’re at the shopping centre the first Saturday after the full moon and Liam insists that she can smell her. She doesn’t say this in front of Harry, of course. But the fact that she’s _there_ somewhere in the same shopping centre means that they’re closer than ever.

“She’s in Next,” Zayn whispers to Louis as they’re walking through the shopping centre after another look around. 

Louis raises her eyebrows but carefully leads them towards the popular clothing shop. “What about here?” she says louder for the others to hear.

“Ooh, I love this shop!” Harry exclaims, waltzing on in, Niall right behind her.

“She’s in here,” Louis says, catching Liam’s arm. “Are you ready?”

Liam shakes her head. She licks her lips. “Do I look okay?”

Louis gives her a soft smile. “You look beautiful.”

Liam’s cheeks go pink. “Thanks, Lou.”

They wander in. She wants to stick close to Liam, but she also doesn’t want to look like she’s Liam’s girlfriend again, like what happened with Harry. Thankfully, Harry appears and drags Louis off to another section of the shop, which leaves Liam alone. She focuses her hearing so she can hear Liam’s heartbeat out of everyone else’s.

The slight uptick means that she’s spotted the girl.

Louis cranes her neck, trying to see passed the rows of clothes to where Liam’s ponytail is visible. 

“That’s her,” Louis hisses to Harry. Harry’s eyes immediately widen and she leans around Louis to get a look at the girl.

“She’s cute,” Harry says with a smile. “Oh, she has a nice smile, that’s good.”

“You got this, Li,” Louis says. She knows Liam will be able to hear her. 

“Has Liam ever had a girlfriend before? Or boyfriend?” Harry asks.

“Once,” Louis replies. “In year eight she went out with a boy for about two months. Which is, like, three years to teens.”

“We’re _still_ teens, Lou,” Harry teases.

Louis pokes her tongue out. She keeps her gaze on Liam the entire time, watching as she talks to the girl folding clothes. The girl _is_ cute. And she’s laughing at Liam’s jokes, so that is a plus.

“Well? What happened?” Harry prods.

“Oh,” Louis says, startled. “He dumped her after Emma Wright’s birthday party because he liked her more. Liam was relieved. But she had her first kiss with him, which was ages before me.”

“What was his name?”

“Justin something. I don’t remember, he moved schools before year nine.”

The girl laughs again and puts her hand on Liam’s arm. Liam’s smile is so happy from here.

“They look like they’re hitting it off,” Zayn says, appearing behind Louis and Harry. 

“She’s cute,” Niall says. “Her name’s Sophia. She’s laughing at Liam’s jokes so they’re _definitely_ mates. Uh, soulmates. Liam has _crap_ jokes.”

Louis’ glaring daggers at Niall, but thankfully Harry hasn’t noticed the slip up. Niall gives her an apologetic look.

“She’s giving Liam her number!” Harry exclaims in a stage whisper. “Oh, they’re _so cute_!”

They all turn to look at the exchange. Sophia presses a piece of paper into Liam’s palm, lingering for longer than is necessary, Louis notices. Liam’s heartbeat picks up speed. 

“What’re they saying?” Niall whispers in Louis’ ear, but Louis just bats her away. She can’t tell them that without drawing questions from Harry. 

“She’s coming over!” Harry exclaims excitedly. 

They’re not very inconspicuous, as is noted by Louis knocking over a mannequin and catching it with her fast reflexes just before it hits the ground. She shoots Sophia an apologetic look and hastily stands it back up. Its shirt is all crooked and she straightens it.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Liam says. Her face is absolutely unreadable right now and Louis _hates_ it. She’s big on facial expressions, and she doesn’t like to be kept out of the loop with Liam’s lack of expression. 

“How’d it go?” Louis asks the moment they’re out of the shop. 

“Good,” Liam replies. “She gave me her number.”

Louis bites back a squeal and she throws herself at Liam. “I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks, Lou,” Liam says as they part. “Where’s Harry?”

Louis looks around and sees that both Harry and Niall are missing. Zayn is leaning against the window of the shop, looking bored while she plays with her phone. 

Louis focuses. “They’re buying things. Anyway! What did Sophia have to say?”

Liam makes a face. “It’s all a blur. I think I made a joke about rowdy shoppers – you lot weren’t as quiet as you thought you were, by the way.” Louis pokes her tongue out but Liam ignores it. “And she asked me out.”

It takes all of Louis’ strength not to squeal in happiness. “This is amazing, Li! You’re going on a date with your mate! I didn’t mean to rhyme there, either. This is everything. Oh! We can go on double dates and–” 

“Slow down, Lou,” Liam says, placing her hands on Louis’ shoulders where she’s bouncing on the spot. “We haven’t even had _one_ date yet, don’t plan our wedding already.”

Louis _beams_. “Wedding, eh?” she teases. Liam promptly goes red. 

“I hate you,” she mumbles. Louis throws her arm around Liam’s shoulder and they make their way back to Niall and Harry, who are exiting the shop with bags in their hands. 

“You could never,” she says, kissing Liam’s cheek. 

Liam’s huff of laughter is the only response she needs.

~*~


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥
> 
> **Note:** things start to get a _little_ sexual this chapter. Nothing explicit, though.

The more time she spends with Harry, the more in love Louis falls. And the more she has to run in the woods afterwards.

Her wolf wants to be out all of the time. Wants to run, frolic, and be free.

It’s a bit of an issue at times.

Thankfully, Louis doesn’t need a lot of sleep at night, so she can spend a good couple of hours running through the woods to get rid of her pent up energy. 

Thankfully after the night Louis met Harry’s parents, things aren’t awkward. Mostly because Harry doesn’t know that Louis lied, but also because she’d had a long conversation with Zayn and Liam after her run. Zayn assured Louis that she hasn’t seen anything in her visions to indicate that Harry comes from a family of hunters, which put Louis’ mind at ease. And Liam, ever her rock, was there for Louis with every single worry she wanted to express. 

So things have been pretty great between her and Harry. Which is probably why things feel like they are moving impossibly fast between them, but also _ridiculously_ slow. They have school that restricts them, along with parents, homework, and friends. They spend as much time together, but it’s never enough. Not for either of them. 

Before Louis knows it, the full moon is right around the corner again, and she can feel its pull at her body every single day.

Right now, though she’s lying on Harry’s bed while Harry braids flowers into her hair. Harry’s hands are soft and sure as she braids each individual flower into Louis’ hair, humming while she works. Louis is so in love with her.

“We should probably do our homework,” Louis mutters, feeling rather sleepy.

“Later,” Harry says. “I’m a bit busy.”

Louis grins, unable to help herself. “Do you want to come over on Friday for dinner?” she asks. “I know my house is super noisy compared to yours, but I feel like I should at least _ask_ if you want to come over.”

“I don’t mind where we are, as long as we’re together,” Harry replies.

Louis looks up at her as best as she can. “That was cheesy,” she teases.

Harry just shrugs, grinning. “I like not having your siblings walk in on us snogging. But they’re always so fun to be around. So I don’t mind where we are.”

Louis makes a noise of agreement. 

“There! All done. You look beautiful now.”

Louis sits up and turns to face Harry. “And I didn’t beforehand?”

Harry grins and leans closer, kissing her. “Definitely not,” she teases, giggling against Louis’ lips. Louis pins her to the bed and smothers her face with kisses. Harry’s laughter fills Louis with warmth, bathes her in happiness and love.

She presses one last kiss to Harry’s lips before Harry cups Louis’ face in her hands. She runs her thumbs over Louis’ cheekbones and just stares at her.

“Don’t laugh,” Harry says softly, seriously. “But I think I imprinted on you.”

Louis’ heart thuds wildly in her chest. She stays silent, sensing that Harry has more to say.

“I… I felt this… connection to you the second I saw you,” Harry whispers, like she’s telling Louis her biggest secret. “And then I found out you felt the same.”

“I do,” Louis whispers.

“I love you.”

Louis beams. “I love you, too.”

They kiss again, slower this time. There’s heat between them. Harry moves her leg between Louis’, pressing right against her crotch. Fire shoots through Louis’ veins. Louis settles over Harry, bracing herself on one arm as they kiss. 

They haven’t gone further than heated kisses and a bit of boob touching, but Louis feels like _this_ could be the turning point. 

Flames lick the insides of Louis’ entire body. 

She burns from the inside.

Harry gives her a heated look and she sits up enough to take off her shirt. Her bra quickly follows. Louis’ mouth goes dry. She hastily strips out of her own shirt and bra and meets Harry’s lips with her own. 

When it comes to sex, Louis has _zero_ idea of what she’s doing. She’s read fanfiction, and she knows that sex between two girls can be really, really good, but she’s also really, really scared. Especially of losing control. She can’t lose control around Harry. Not like that, at least. She doesn’t want to hurt her in any way, shape or form.

Their breathing is heavy in the room. Harry’s scent lingers on Louis’ skin everywhere she touches. 

Louis pulls back just to stare at Harry. She smiles, unable to help herself. Harry’s lips are pink, kiss swollen, and look far more inviting than they have any right to. Her cheeks are flushed. Her entire chest is flushed red. It’s Louis favourite colour.

She shifts, letting her lips trail kisses down Harry’s throat. Harry’s breathing gets heavier, her heart thuds under Louis’ tongue. She nips at the soft flesh, barely leaving marks as she goes. She hovers her mouth right over Harry’s nipple. It’s already hard, a beautiful, dusty pink colour. 

Harry’s hand is on the back of Louis’ head and pushing her down towards it. They both moan. Louis feels electric. She gently licks at the nub with her tongue, rolling it until it gets impossibly hard. Harry is so very responsive. Her breathing is heavy, her moans music to Louis’ ears. 

Louis tugs on Harry’s nipple harder and she elicits the most beautiful sound that Louis has ever had the pleasure of hearing.

“…Harry. Oh my god!” 

They spring apart at the sudden intrusion. Harry covers her chest with her hands and Louis does the same. She falls off the bed in her haste to get away from this unknown person’s gaze. 

“Uncle Richie!” Harry exclaims.

The door closes firmly and Louis peeks her head over the edge of the bed, glad to see that they’re alone again.

“Who the fuck was that?” she asks, getting up. She quickly locates her bra and punches herself in the face trying to put it back on. 

“That’s my uncle,” Harry says. She passes Louis her shirt, her face red with embarrassment. “I had no idea he was getting in today! Dad said he wasn’t getting here until the weekend.”

Louis shoves her shirt over her head and straighten her clothes. “Well, I’ve clearly made a great first impression,” she mutters. “I should go.”

Harry nods. “Yeah, this is going to be awkward as fuck.”

Louis gives Harry a sympathetic look. “I was having a really good time,” she says softly. She bites her lip when Harry gives her a sultry look.

“Me too.” Louis cups Harry’s face in her hands and they kiss briefly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Text me how bad it gets?”

Harry nods. “I will.”

Louis grabs her things, avoids Harry’s uncle’s gaze as she makes her way through the house and out to her car. She quickly drives off, trying not to think of how embarrassed she is.

~*~

“I have a confession.”

Louis hits the spacebar on her laptop to pause the movie they’re watching. It’s Friday night and they’ve had dinner, put the twins to bed, and are relaxing in Louis’ room watching _Twilight_ – at Harry’s insistence. Not that Louis wasn’t easily swayed, of course. All Harry had to do was say ‘please?’ and Louis was immediately agreeing. 

They’re having a good time, well, Louis thinks they are, at least. They’re snuggled on Louis’ bed, a blanket over their legs, the laptop resting on a breakfast tray to stop it from jostling around. The moon is bright in the sky through Louis’ open window, and in a few days’ time, it will be full and she will run underneath it with her pack. 

But Harry’s words make Louis pause. She turns to look at her girlfriend and gives her a quizzical look. 

“Yeah?” she prompts.

Harry bites her lip. Her gaze flicks from the screen, where it’s paused on Rosalie’s face during the baseball match, and then back to Louis.

“…I _may_ have written Leah and Rosalie fanfiction.”

Louis can’t stop the grin forming. “Have you?” 

Even in the dim light of the room, Louis can see that Harry’s face is bright red. “Yes,” she says meekly. “There’s just _nothing_ online, well, nothing I haven’t already read, and… well… yeah.”

Louis shifts so they’re facing each other. She cups Harry’s neck with one hand. “Can I read it?”

Harry’s face goes even redder. “Umm. Maybe when I’m not here? Like. I’ll go home and message you the link?”

Louis nods. “Anything you want, love,” she says softly. “I’m very proud of you.”

“Why?”

Louis shrugs. “Because you’ve put yourself out there. And you’ve created something because you wanted something yourself, too. It takes courage to do that.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Harry says. She rests her head on Louis’ shoulder. “Thank you.”

They finish the movie and Louis pushes her laptop to the side. Harry’s hands are on her in an instant, sliding up the back of Louis’ shirt until it’s bunched under her armpits. She pulls it off, needing the fabric out of the way. Harry’s jumper quickly follows, and Louis’ immediately grips at her hips. They can’t do anything more than this, not like the other day – not in a house full of werewolves with super hearing, but Harry doesn’t know that. 

It’s been getting colder, so Harry has taken to wearing more layers. Louis understands the reasoning behind it, but it just makes her frustrated when she wants to touch Harry and there’s just _layers_ getting in the way. 

“Why are you wearing so many clothes?” Louis asks breathlessly. She licks her lips as Harry huffs out a breath of laughter. She takes off her shirt, revealing a singlet underneath it. Louis growls. 

“ _Some_ of us don’t run as hot as you do,” Harry replies, running her hands down Louis’ bare arms. “How are you always so warm?”

“Genes?” Louis says with a shrug. She leans forward and kisses Harry again. 

Harry giggles against her lips, settling herself a little better in Louis’ lap. She grabs Louis’ hands and puts them on her arse. Louis squeezes reflexively. Harry moans. 

“Shh,” Louis mumbles. “My sisters are asleep in the next room.”

Harry giggles again. “Surely they won’t hear us?” Her lips trail down Louis’ jaw and she turns her head to give Harry better access. 

“They _might_ ,” she replies. She turns her head and captures Harry’s lips in her own once more. 

She never wants to stop doing this. Harry’s scent fills her mind, her entire room. Louis wants to bathe in it. She never wants to stop hearing the breathy little moans that come from Harry every time Louis does something she particularly likes. Her hands are warm on Harry’s back, sliding up until she’s at Harry’s bra. She cups Harry’s boob over the fabric and desperately wishes they were at Harry’s so they could do _more_. 

“Do you think about sex?” Harry whispers, her breath hot on Louis’ cheek. 

Louis’ brain short circuits. “Umm…”

“Because I do,” Harry says, pulling back to look at Louis properly. Her eyes shine in the darkness, her smile soft, and her cheeks a little red. “And I want my first time to be with you.”

Louis’ pretty sure she stops being able to function. She opens and closes her mouth in a perfect impression of a goldfish. But she manages a nod, and Harry beams at her.

“Holy shit,” she mumbles right as Harry kisses her again. 

They can’t talk about this _here_ where her family can hear them, but _holy shit_ Harry wants to have sex with her! This is… this is _everything_. 

Louis can’t help the moans spilling from her as Harry kisses a love bite into the side of her neck. It’ll heal before Harry leaves, but she’ll know it happened. Harry has yet to comment on why Louis’ love bites don’t last very long, which she counts as a blessing.

“We should make a plan,” Harry whispers. Louis’ lips are burning. Her entire body is burning. She squeezes Harry’s arse where her hands have found purchase again and Harry moans softly. “Because I’d like to have sex with you soon.”

Louis just nods dumbly. “Okay.”

Harry grins at her. “I have a confession.” 

Somehow, Louis doesn’t think that this is going to be fanfiction related. 

“I think about you when I touch myself.”

Louis makes a strangled noise. She wants nothing more than to hear about _that_ in _very vivid detail_ , but her embarrassment at her family potentially hearing them presses down on her. 

“We can’t talk about this here,” she whispers. “This house has _very_ thin walls.”

“Liar,” Harry mutters but she kisses Louis again. Louis flips them over and pins Harry to the bed. She trails kisses down Harry’s throat, lingering on her favourite spot on Harry’s neck, worrying the skin with her teeth. Harry’s hand fists in the back of Louis’ hair, keeping her in place. Her moans fill the room. 

A knock on the door breaks them apart.

“It’s time for Harry to go home, girls,” her mum says from the other side of the closed door. 

Louis both mentally thanks her mum and curses her. She passes Harry her clothes and watches as she reluctantly pulls them back on.

“So – do you want to watch _New Moon_ tomorrow at my place?” Harry asks, a casualness to her voice that Louis is impressed with. 

Louis nods. “I’d love to.”

Harry grins and kisses her again. Louis walks her out to her car and wraps her arms loosely around Harry’s middle, not wanting to let go just yet. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Harry says, brushing her nose against Louis’. They kiss once more before Harry gets into her car and drives off.

With a sigh, Louis turns around and heads back inside. She locks the door behind her and wanders into the kitchen to get herself a drink.

“Have a seat, poppet,” Jay says. She startles Louis, who puts a hand to her chest. She pours herself a glass of water and sits down opposite her mum. 

“You heard, didn’t you?” 

Jay’s expression tells Louis that she did. “I just want you to know that you don’t have to rush into anything,” she begins. “You and Harry haven’t been together for that long. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do _everything_ right now – not when you’ve got your whole lives together.”

Their whole lives together – Louis likes the sound of that.

“I know,” she says, fiddling with her glass. She takes a sip and sets it back down. “I don’t… I don’t feel like I’m rushing into it.” She avoids her mum’s gaze. Not because she’s embarrassed, but because she’s still not sure about everything. “I want to tell Harry first. About us.”

If her mum is surprised, she doesn’t show it. “Alright,” she says with a nod. “On one condition – if she takes it badly, you need an exit strategy. I don’t want you putting yourself in danger, okay? Do it on neutral ground if you can. So don’t bring her here and tell her.”

Louis nods. “Zayn already saw it happen,” she replies, flicking her gaze up to meet her mum’s. “I found out the other day. She says Harry takes it well.”

Jay gives her a soft smile. “Still, it’s better to be cautious.”

“I know,” Louis replies. She chews on her bottom lip. “Can I go now?”

“Come give your mum a cuddle first,” Jay says, moving in her seat so Louis can get to her. “All I can do is smell Harry on you.”

With a slight huff, Louis gets up and lets her mum scent mark her to her heart’s content. She kisses Louis’ cheek when she’s done and gives her a soft, fond look. Louis hugs her mum for a little while longer.

~*~

“Stop fidgeting,” Louis says with a sigh.

“I can’t,” Liam mumbles. Her leg jiggles, constantly hitting the table where they’re sitting and doing their homework. Louis gives her _a look_ and gets up.

“C’mon, we’re going for a run,” she says, stripping off her shirt. Liam is quick to follow her up the stairs, and they undress in Louis’ room. 

“Mum said you’re going to tell Harry soon?”

Louis nods, peeling off her socks. “I’m going to do it tonight.”

Liam pauses, her shirt half way over her head. She pulls the rest of it off and gives Louis a wild look. “Shit. This is really serious.”

Louis nods again. “Well, yeah, she’s my mate,” she says easily. “And I don’t want to keep this from her any longer. It’s really hard sometimes. And the girls try their best, but the twins especially slip up more than they should. Harry’s bound to figure it out eventually.”

“Wow,” Liam says. She shoves her trousers down and they just stand there in their underwear. “My first date nerves are officially squashed.”

Louis laughs. She takes off her underwear and stretches her limbs. “Alright. First one to the clearing gets the car tonight.”

Liam’s eyes widen dramatically and Louis laughs as she transforms. She leaps through her open window and lands on the ground with a soft thud. She can see Uncle Nate and Uncle Emmett sparring in the back garden. Uncle Joseph is preparing the barbeque for dinner, and it makes Louis a little sad that she won’t be here to eat – she loves a good barbeque. Especially when Uncle Joseph does it.

But she runs towards the woods with a determination. She and Liam both have dates tonight, and there’s only one car between them. She already knows that she’s going to let Liam take it, but this is fun. This will absolutely distract Liam from her nerves, and it will help her get rid of some pent up energy.

It’s not purely selfless, though. Despite knowing that Zayn saw Louis telling Harry about them, she’s still nervous. She would be out of her mind _not_ to be nervous. There is always the possibility that something could change and Harry would take the news badly. Louis could tell her and Harry might not want to ever see her again. She doesn’t _think_ that it’ll happen, but she needs to be prepared, just in case. 

Either way – walking home from Harry’s will give Louis time to clear her mind before telling her mum whatever the outcome is.

Liam bounds passed her in a blur of brownish-grey fur. Louis barks, chasing after her with renewed determination. Just because she’s _letting_ Liam have the car, doesn’t mean that she’s going to make it easy on her.

She all but tackles Liam in a bid to slow her down, and they go flying, rolling around in the fallen leaves together. If Louis could laugh like this, she would. It’s hilarious to see Liam’s tongue lolling out of her mouth as if in slow motion as they chase each other through the woods. 

They’re neck and neck and the clearing is in sight. Louis glances and sees Liam concentrating with all her might. She doesn’t let up. Liam’s paws hit the clearing a millisecond before Louis’ do and she twirls in a circle as best as she can in this form, clearly trying to do some kind of victory dance. Louis sits on her haunches, panting. She needed this. They both did.

Liam trots back over to her and noses along Louis’ side, scent marking her. Louis turns her head so Liam has better access to her neck.

She nips at Liam, rubbing herself against Liam’s side, too. She loves scent marking while they’re like this. She yawns widely, feeling her mouth open a lot wider than it usually does. Liam circles around, nose in the ground before she sits down next to Louis, her butt hitting Louis’ side. Louis swats her with her tail. She lies down on her front paws and just listens to the birds in the trees, and the life around them. 

Everything always feels _more_ as a wolf. Louis loves the distraction it brings. Her ears twitch as Liam puts a paw on her head before half lying on top of her. She would huff, but that would take too much energy, and being this close to Liam always brings her comfort. They stay like that for a long while. 

Eventually, they have to get up. Louis stretches, moving her body in ways that she can only do as a wolf. She noses Liam’s side, licks her face and trots back the way they came. There’s no rush this time. Liam falls into step with Louis, their shoulders brushing as they walk. Louis takes her time walking back home, letting the scents and noises of the woods dictate how long she takes. She spots a squirrel and she chases it just because she can. 

By the time they make it back home, Uncle Joseph has the barbeque all fired up and the smells envelop the atmosphere around them. Louis trots over while she’s still in her wolf form and nudges his leg. He reaches down and pats the top of her head. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” he says. “You’re not getting any food. Now go on.”

Louis’ tongue lolls out of her mouth. It’s the best she can do to express her displeasure. She trots up the back steps and paws at the back door until she can hear a huff before Lottie opens it. She brushes her tail against Lottie’s hand and makes her way up the stairs, Liam close behind her. 

Once they’re in her room, both Louis and Liam shift back into their human forms. 

“That was fun,” Louis says, stretching her arms above her head. She redresses and picks up her phone. She’d better get going if she’s going to make it to Harry’s in time for dinner.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Liam says once she’s ready.

“Hold on a sec.” Louis grabs her things, slinging her handbag over her shoulder. She stops and pulls Liam so they’re flush against each other. “How’re you feeling?”

Liam gives her a small smile and nods. “Yeah, good,” she replies. She pushes Louis’ hair over her shoulder. “Still nervous, but not as much.”

“Good.” Louis kisses her cheek and scent marks her again. Just because she can. “For luck,” she adds with a wink.

Liam huffs, rolling her eyes. “C’mon, I’ve got to drop you off at Harry’s first.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Louis says. Liam quickly grabs her handbag from her room and they make their way out to the car together after calling out their goodbyes.

They idle in Harry’s driveway when they get there and Liam reaches over, squeezing Louis’ hand.

“Good luck,” she says. “And call me if you need anything, yeah?”

Louis nods. “Yeah, of course.”

Liam kisses the back of Louis’ hand before letting go. She gets out of the car, waves Liam off with a shout of “have a great first date!” which has Liam giving her the finger before driving off.

Louis doesn’t even have to push the doorbell before Harry is opening the door.

“I heard you both,” Harry explains as they walk inside. Louis toes off her shoes and leaves them with the others. “So Liam’s finally going on that date with Sophia?”

Louis nods. “Yeah,” she replies. “ _Finally_. She’s picking Sophia up and taking her out to some nice little restaurant that Zayn recommended. I hope she’ll be okay.”

“I hope they have a good time,” Harry adds. 

They make their way to the kitchen where Harry is preparing their dinner. Louis wraps her arms around Harry’s middle from behind and drops kisses along her shoulder. 

“This looks good,” she says, lips pressed against Harry’s skin still.

“Mum and Dad are out for dinner with some of Dad’s work colleagues,” Harry stars. “But I’m going to make enough for leftovers in case anyone wants any. And I know _you_ eat a ridiculous amount, so this will be enough for us, too.”

“I do love a good hamburger,” Louis says. “Right. Is there anything I can do?”

Harry nods. “Wash your hands and then help me chop things,” she says. “There’s a spare apron hanging on the pantry door handle.”

Louis makes quick work of washing her hands and getting prepared so that she can help Harry. She’s cutting slices of tomato for their burgers while Harry grills the patties. The scents are absolutely mouth-watering, and it makes Louis glad that she didn’t steal a sausage off the barbeque. 

She follows all of Harry’s instructions on what to do next, including shredding some lettuce, which is, by far, the easiest part. And then she’s slicing open some hamburger buns as the patties finish cooking.

They assemble two burgers each and take them to the lounge room where the lights are down low and the television is muted on some random channel. Harry quickly changes over to Netflix and presses play on _New Moon_.

“This one is the worst film,” Harry says between mouthfuls. Louis hums in agreement. “I absolutely _love_ the introduction of the werewolves,” she continues, “but there’s no Leah and even less Rosalie than usual, and I’m not about that life.”

Louis can’t help but grin. “Maybe we’ll get _Eclipse_ watched tonight as well?” 

“Don’t tease me like that,” Harry replies. She winks at Louis and picks up her drink. Louis nudges Harry’s foot with her own. 

They polish off their food and while Louis could go for a third, she decides not to. Not when the nerves start creeping back in. Harry’s hand is warm in her own where they rest in Louis’ lap, a solid reminder of what she has planned to confess tonight.

They’re more than half way through the movie when the front door opens. Louis can hear the difference in the way the person walks which indicates that it isn’t Anne or Robin. Harry doesn’t notice until the lights flick on.

“Sorry, girls, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Now that Louis is seeing him for the first time, she realises just how much _younger_ he looks in person compared to the photograph of him and Robin on display. He has a boyish look about his face, crystal clear blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that Louis instantly hates.

“Hey, Uncle Richie,” Harry says. She reaches for the remote and pauses the movie. “Um. This is my girlfriend, Louis.”

Louis nods at him. She leans forwards and shakes his hand when he offers it to her. She gets the weirdest sensation when she touches him and she quickly pulls back. He gives her an odd look. Louis’ skin prickles and she leans back against the sofa. Harry is completely oblivious.

“Sorry to disturb you both,” he says. “Though I’m glad you both have your clothes on this time.” Louis’ face burns. 

“Um, I made hamburgers for dinner if you want any?” Harry says quickly. Louis mentally thanks her for changing the subject. 

“Thanks, Harry, you’re a gem.” He doesn’t move though. Louis watches him. “Actually, do you mind if I watch the TV? There’s a footie match that I recorded earlier that I was hoping to watch before I meet the boys tomorrow.” _Lie_ , Louis wants to say as she hears the uptick in his heartbeat. 

Harry gives him a smile. “Sure. We’ll finish this in my room.”

Louis stands as Harry does. They clear away their things. She follows Harry up to her room and Harry firmly shuts the door behind her. They get comfortable on the bed and Harry sets her laptop on a breakfast tray, much like they did at Louis’ place. 

“Thank goodness for Netflix remembering exactly where we were,” Harry mutters as she presses play. 

They get another half an hour into the movie when there’s a knock on the door. Louis presses pause.

“Come in,” Harry calls out.

Her Uncle Richie pokes his head around the door. “Hey, sorry to disturb you, but I got you something.” He holds out a little flower pot that has a small succulent in it. “I forgot to give it to you downstairs.” 

“Thanks, Uncle Richie!” Harry happily exclaims. She gets up off the bed and takes it from him. She gives him a quick hug and sets the plant down on her desk. She angles it just so and runs a finger down the side of a leaf.

“I’ll leave you girls to it,” Richie says. “Enjoy your movie.”

“We will,” Harry says. She shuts the door behind him and climbs back on the bed. 

They finally get through the last part of the movie and Louis gets up off the bed to stretch. 

“I’m just going to go pee,” she says. Harry nods. 

“I’ll get us something to drink.”

Louis makes her way to the toilet and as she’s exiting once she’s done, she can hear Harry and her uncle talking downstairs. There’s just _something_ about him that sets Louis on edge. She doesn’t know what it is, just that she doesn’t trust him at all.

Harry’s footsteps start climbing the stairs so Louis stays in the corridor to wait for her. Harry smiles when she spots Louis and it makes Louis so happy. She lives for that smile.

“Think we have enough time for _Eclipse_?” she asks as they step back into her room. 

“Probably,” Louis replies. She sets her bottle of water down on Harry’s bedside table and gets comfortable on the bed again. “So… I read your fanfic.”

Harry promptly blushes. “Did you like it? No, don’t tell me!” She covers her face with her hands and Louis has to gently tug at them to get her to look at Louis.

“I _loved_ it,” she says honestly. She had read it the second Harry had sent her the link last night, and she enjoyed it so much she immediately read it again. Harry really brought Leah and Rosalie to life in her story.

“Really?” Harry asks hopefully. 

“Really, love,” Louis replies. She leans over and kisses Harry softly. Harry sighs against her lips. She shifts and they awkwardly move until they’re face to face, kissing. 

“Who would you be – Leah or Rosalie?” Harry asks, breaking the kiss. 

Louis smiles. “Leah,” she replies without hesitation. It’s because they’re both werewolves. It’s such a cop out but she’s said it now.

“I saw you as more of a Rosalie,” Harry says. 

“You can picture me slaughtering everyone who abused me? Yeah, that sounds like me,” Louis says with a laugh. 

“Well there _is_ that, but also, you’re full of surprises, just like Rosalie is.”

Louis hums. “Maybe I’m both?”

“If Renesme and Jacob had a kid, do you think their child would be a werewolf or a vampire?”

Louis opens her mouth to respond but nothing comes out. “I honesty have no idea. I still get stumped on how Edward got Bella pregnant when he’s been dead for, like, a hundred years.”

Harry giggles. “I read the explanation behind that,” she says. “But yeah, it’s a bit odd.”

“Just a little,” Louis agrees. “At least with werewolves, you’re guaranteed that the kid will be a werewolf, too. Well, except when they’re still human.” _Shit_. She wasn’t meant to say that.

“Oh, I never thought of that,” Harry says. They’re sitting facing each other now – all thoughts of kisses completely gone for the moment. “Do you think that it could skip a generation? Like if Leah had, say three kids, that only two of them would be werewolves?”

This is all getting a little too close to home, Louis thinks. 

“Um,” Louis says. She swallows thickly and then reaches for her water, taking a long sip. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” Harry says. She takes Louis’ hands in hers and gives her full attention. Louis absolutely loves that about her.

“God, I love you,” she says. Harry beams at her.

“I love you too.”

Louis takes a shaky breath. “Um,” she starts, “this is a bit hard, so bear with me?”

Harry nods. “Take all the time you need.”

This is so odd for her. Louis’ never actually had to _tell_ anyone before that she’s a werewolf. The important people already know – they’re part of the pack. And Zayn was a kid when she discovered her abilities and Auntie Ashley took her under her wing. Niall found out when she and Zayn became girlfriends because it was still hard for Zayn to hide her visions. 

“Lou?” Harry prompts. She flushes because she’s been silent for a few minutes now. “It’s okay. You don’t need to tell me anything you’re not comfortable with.”

“I _want_ to,” Louis insists. “It’s just… It’s not just my secret. Everything will change with us when I tell you, and I’m a little scared how you’ll react.”

Harry gives her an odd look. “You can trust me,” she says softly.

“Oh, love, I know I can,” Louis says emphatically. “There isn’t even a _question_ about that. It’s just… I’ve never told anyone this before. So it’s a bit daunting.”

Harry nods. “Okay. I’m listening whenever you’re ready.”

Louis licks her suddenly dry lips. She takes her hands from Harry’s and ties her hair up in a messy bun on the top of her head. She doesn’t think she can actually look at Harry when she says this. “Umm… My family. We’re kind of… werewolves.”

Silence hangs over them.

“Wait, really?” Harry asks. Louis chances a glance at her. Harry’s expression looks a little excited.

She nods. “Yeah, we are.”

Harry grins. “That’s so cool!” She bounces on the bed a little. “I _thought_ your sisters were a little too obsessed with wolves for it to be normal. So – can you shift like Leah and Jacob? Or…?”

Louis nods. “Yeah, uh, yeah,” she says. God. Zayn was right, this has gone a little better than she thought it would. “Um, not everyone can shift into a full wolf but Liam and I can.”

“Liam’s a werewolf too?” Harry exclaims. Louis winces at the pitch of her voice. She hopes that Harry’s uncle is still watching the television.

“Yeah, she is. She’s my family.”

“I have _so many questions_ ,” Harry says in a rush. “Can I see you as a wolf? Do you have fangs? Does it hurt? Do you only shift on a full moon?”

Louis’ head whirls. “Um, hang on,” she says. “We have a… like a werewolf lite shift? You could say?”

“Like a diet werewolf form? Oh my god, I love this. Can I see?”

Louis nods. “This is what we call a beta shift,” she says. She takes a breath and pauses. “If you get scared, just tell me, okay?”

Harry nods. “I won’t get scared.”

Louis closes her eyes. She lets her facial features shift. She feels her claws come out, her brow change shape, hair sprout along her jawline, and of course, her fangs. 

Harry gasps. Louis opens her eyes to see Harry staring at her in awe. Her hand automatically lifts. “Can… can I touch you?” she whispers.

Louis nods. “Yeah.”

With more gentleness than Louis expects, Harry touches her face. She traces along the ridges of Louis’ brow, down her jaw where there’s fur on Louis’ cheeks. Louis’ eyes close automatically as Harry cups her face with both hands. The bed dips as Harry moves closer to her. 

Louis’ eyes open and she takes in Harry staring at her. Her eyes flash gold. 

“God, you’re beautiful,” Harry whispers. 

The last thing Louis expects is for Harry to kiss her, but Harry’s mouth presses against her own. She shifts back to human as they kiss, her heart thudding in her chest. Harry accepts her. Harry accepts her for who she is – fangs and all. Louis is _over the moon_.

“I love you so much,” Louis whispers against Harry’s lips. “ _So much_.”

“I love you too,” Harry replies. “So you really are the Leah to my Rosalie then, aren’t you?”

Louis grins, unable to stop herself. “I guess I am.”

Harry giggles and pulls back. “Do you have an alpha?”

Louis nods. “Mum is our alpha,” she replies. 

“That’s so cool,” Harry says. “So you _do_ know firsthand if the werewolf gene skips a generation?”

Louis nods again. “My Auntie Ashley is Mum’s sister – she’s human. She’s our pack emissary. Um, an emissary is someone who, while not always magical, is tied to the pack to keep them grounded in humanity. Some werewolves succumb completely to the wolf and they live like that forever. The majority of us have a pack big enough that it’s not an issue. And an emissary helps with that.”

“That’s… Well, it sounds necessary.”

Louis smiles. “Yeah, it is,” she says. “Not all of us can change into the full wolf, either. I can. Liam can, and two of my uncles can, too. Mum can, too, but not while she’s pregnant.”

“What about your sisters?” Harry asks.

“We only know if we’re werewolves when we hit about eight years old,” Louis begins. “I shifted into a full wolf for the first time at fourteen. Liam was thirteen. She’s always beating me at this stuff.” She huffs a laugh, shaking her head. “Fizzy has only just come into her powers, and Lottie is still getting the hang of them. I think she’ll be able to shift by the time she gets to fourteen, too.”

“Can I see you as a wolf?”

Louis nods. “Yeah! Well, actually, you’ve already seen me as a wolf.”

“I have?”

“The first day of school,” Louis admits. “That wolf you saw in the woods? That was me.”

Harry’s eyes widen dramatically. “That was you?” Louis nods again. “I wondered why that wolf was so tame. You let me pat you and everything.”

Louis grins and shrugs a shoulder. She shifts her legs out from underneath her body. “Well, I knew who you were. So I knew you weren’t a threat to me.”

“I’d never be a threat to you,” Harry says softly. She kisses Louis again with such tenderness. 

“There’s one other thing,” Louis mumbles against Harry’s lips.

“Hmm?” 

“Um, werewolves tend to… Have soulmates?”

Harry pulls back. “You _totally_ imprinted on me, didn’t you?” Her grin is infectious and Louis nods. Harry laughs, wrapping her arms around Louis’ shoulders. “Well you already know that I imprinted on _you_. So we’re even there.”

Louis buries her face in Harry’s neck, breathing in her beautiful scent. 

“Hey, are you guys like the _Twilight_ werewolves, where it’s only genetic, or can you bite people and turn them?” Harry asks after a long bout of silence.

“The alpha can Bite people and turn them,” Louis says, pulling back. “Sometimes the Bite doesn’t take, though… Um, which means you can die… So it’s a risk. My dad is a Bitten wolf. As is Uncle Emmett.”

“So… Your mum could Bite me?” Harry asks in a whisper, the hesitation clear in her voice.

“If that’s what you wanted, yes,” Louis replies honestly. “It’s not something to be taken lightly, though. Your entire life would change.”

“My entire life already changed the moment I met you,” Harry says. She strokes her hand down the side of Louis’ face. “I’m not saying that I want to go to your house and have your mum Bite me right _now_ , but I’d like it to be an option at least?”

Louis nods. “I’ll talk to her about it.”

Harry smiles. “This is so awesome, by the way.”

Louis laughs, shaking her head, unable to stop smiling. “I’m so glad you didn’t freak out.”

Harry gives an easy shrug. “I grew up on the magical worlds of _Harry Potter_ and _Twilight_ – these things don’t even make a blip on my radar of things that freak me out.”

“I’m glad.”

“God, this is going to make my fanfiction _so much better_.”

Harry’s laughter as Louis tackles her to the bed is something she’s going to remember forever.

~*~


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥
> 
> Note: This is a short one today.

The headlights of Louis and Liam’s car swing up the driveway as Louis and Harry stand on her front porch kissing. She really doesn’t want to let Harry go right now, but it’s late. Anne and Robin got home a short while ago, and Liam had texted to see if Louis needed a lift home, to which she said she did. As much as she’s thrumming with life right now, she doesn’t want to walk all the way back home. She’d rather run as a wolf, but that would involve taking off her clothes and she has nowhere to leave them. Plus, being a wolf in a residential area would definitely raise some questions. 

“I’d better go,” Louis mumbles against Harry’s lips. 

“Mm, okay,” Harry says, but she makes no move to let go of Louis.

“I can’t honk the horn this late!” Liam calls out. Louis can’t help but smile.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Harry gives her one, last lingering kiss before they finally part. “I’ll have about a hundred questions for you, so be prepared.”

Louis grins. She kisses Harry again and reluctantly pulls away. She keeps a hold of Harry’s hand until they can’t hold it any longer with Louis moving towards the car. She can’t stop smiling. She is _so in love_ with Harry. 

Eventually, she makes it to the car. Liam gives her an exasperated smile. Louis looks out the open window and waves at Harry. 

“Bloody hell,” Liam mutters. She reverses out of the driveway and Louis sighs. She waves to Harry until she can no longer see her. Then she settles back in her seat and sighs again.

“I take it telling her went well?” Liam prompts.

Louis nods. “ _So well_.” 

“…Are you going to elaborate?”

Louis blinks and looks at her sister. “It was… _perfect_. It was perfect, Li. _She’s_ perfect.”

“I’m glad it went well.”

“So – how was your date with Sophia?” Louis asks, waggling her eyebrows in Liam’s direction. “I take it that it went well since you’re still out so late?”

Liam’s cheeks go bright red. “Um. Yeah. It. Um. It was good.”

Louis laughs. Cackles. She can’t help herself. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.” Liam’s cheeks are still red. Louis can’t help but reach over and poke one. 

“Tell me about her?” she asks, softer this time.

Liam’s smile makes Louis’ heart grow in size. “She’s asexual, too.”

“That’s awesome!”

Liam nods. “I wanted to disclose that straight away, you know? Especially because I know it can put people off. She just looked at me with _relief_ and said ‘me too’.”

“Li, that is _wonderful_.”

Liam nods again. “And we talked. A _lot_. About what it’s like to be ace, what people we’ve dated in the past. Do you remember the girl she was with when we first saw her?”

Louis nods. “Of course.”

“They went on a few dates, but Sophia said she didn’t want to date her anymore,” Liam continues. “Because she’d met me.”

Louis positively _bounces_ in her seat with excitement. “Liam! This is _the best_. She totally imprinted on you, too!”

“…You’ve been watching _Twilight_ , haven’t you?”

“Maybe a little bit, but it’s something that Harry said to me the other day – she imprinted on me. She felt like we had a connection. And this is all before I told her about werewolves and soulmates. I think the same happened with Sophia.”

Liam smiles a soft smile, her eyes crinkling in the corners – it’s Louis’ favourite smile of hers. “I just feel so lucky. We’re going to go out again next weekend.”

“I’m so happy for you, Li,” Louis says. “I really, really am.”

“Thanks, Lou. That means a lot to me.”

Louis reaches over and takes Liam’s hand in her own. She kisses the back of it and crinkles her nose. “I see what Mum meant about the change in smell.”

“What?” Liam squeaks. “I smell?”

“ _Different_. You smell different. Like… _more_ you. If that makes sense? When I told mum about having found Harry she said I smelled different. I can smell it on you.”

“…I never thought of that.”

Louis shrugs. “I didn’t know it was a thing until Mum told me.”

They spend the remainder of the car ride chatting about Liam’s date and Harry’s reaction to the news that they’re werewolves. 

Louis honestly couldn’t have hoped for a better night.

She climbs into bed, a smile on her face, the taste of Harry’s lips still on her own, and the promise of tomorrow in the air.

She jolts awake several hours later. She has no idea what has woken her up, as she glances around the room, letting her senses take over. There’s nothing awry in here. She gets out of bed and stands, listening. She can hear a furious heartbeat coming from the twins’ room and she quickly makes her way there, pushing the door open.

Phoebe is hovering over Daisy’s bed. “She won’t wake up!” she says, distressed. 

“Go get Liam,” Louis tells her and Phoebe quickly wanders off, her stuffed Louis wolf teddy clutched in her arms.

“Daisy,” Louis says softly, reaching out to try and wake her sister, who is clearly having a nightmare of some kind. “Daisy, sweetheart, wake up. C’mon, it’s safe. It’s Louis, you’re safe here.”

Daisy wriggles on the bed, sweat sticking to her brow. Her breathing is coming so fast now that it’s scaring Louis. Liam wanders into the room, holding Phoebe in her arms. Phoebe starts to sob softly.

“What’s going on?” Liam asks.

“I don’t know,” Louis replies. “I can’t wake her.”

Suddenly, Daisy _screams_. She sits bolt upright in bed, a wild look in her eyes. Claws pierce Louis’ arm that’s closest to Daisy and her eyes automatically flash gold. Daisy’s eyes flash gold back at her.

“Go get Mum,” Louis says between clenched teeth. 

As gently as she can, she removes Daisy’s clawed hand from her arm and the wounds automatically heal. She takes Daisy’s trembling body into her arms and kisses the top of her head. 

“It’s okay,” she says soothingly. “You’re okay. You’re safe now.” Daisy promptly bursts into tears. Louis holds her as she sobs, huge wracking things that shake her entire little body. She keeps kissing the top of her head, trying to comfort her sister in the only ways she really can right now. Her heart breaks – wondering what nightmare kept her sister in its clutches for so long.

Jay steps into the room a moment later. Louis stands up with Daisy and passes her to their mum. She flashes her eyes red at Daisy and Daisy’s eyes flash gold back at her. 

“Tell me everything,” Jay says. Daisy keeps crying. 

“Mama, what’s wrong with Daisy?” Phoebe asks, still on Liam’s hip. There are still tears streaming down her cheeks, but she’s not sobbing anymore. 

Louis relays waking up and finding Daisy stuck in a nightmare. She shows Jay her blood splattered arm and Jay kisses the side of Daisy’s head. 

“Someone’s here,” Liam says suddenly. Louis’ head cocks to the side – she can hear the sound of a car pulling up to the house.

“I’ll go,” she says, extending her claws reflexively. She makes her way downstairs, letting her senses take over to navigate through the dark house. 

Even though she knows someone is outside, the sound of someone banging on the door still makes her jump. She puts it down to her frayed nerves. She listens, trying to pick the heartbeat on the other side. She opens the door and comes face to face with Niall and Zayn. Zayn, who looks pale and sickly as Niall all but drags her inside and over to the sofa. 

“Turn on a light, yeah? Some of us can’t see in the dark with human eyes.”

Louis quickly complies. She fetches a glass of water and passes it to Zayn. “What’s going on?” she asks.

Zayn sips at the water. “I shared a dream with Daisy,” she says. 

“What?” Louis sits heavily down on the armchair next to the sofa. “ _What_?”

Zayn nods. “I saw _everything_ she saw. It was… it was fucking weird.”

“Shit,” Louis says, running a hand over her face. “Let me go get mum. Finish that water, you look like you’re going to be sick everywhere.”

Louis runs up the stairs and almost crashes into Liam, who is pacing just outside of Daisy and Phoebe’s room, Phoebe still in her arms. “Is…?”

Liam nods and Louis pushes the door open. 

“Mum, Zayn’s here. You’re going to want to hear this.”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” Jay says. “Just let me get the twins settled. Liam, can you bring Phoebe here, please?”

Nerves flood Louis’ body. She can’t stand still. She gnaws on her thumb nail, worrying at it. She waits for her mum to get the twins settled again, and she kisses them both on the head before closing the door to their room behind her. 

“Alright, let’s go down stairs. Liam, love, would you put the kettle on?” Jay asks. “I feel like I need a cuppa right about now.”

“Of course, Mum,” Liam replies. She heads to the kitchen, where Louis knows she’ll be able to hear the entirety of their conversation still, even over the noise of the kettle.

“Alright, girls,” Jay says, moving into the lounge room. She looks at Zayn and Niall sitting on the sofa together before she sits down in her armchair. “Liam’s making tea. Are you both alright?”

Niall shakes her head while Zayn nods. Louis can’t help but smile when Niall rolls her eyes. 

“Zayn shared a dream with Daisy,” Niall says, taking Zayn’s hand in her own. She still looks clammy, Louis thinks, as she sits back down. 

Jay’s eyebrows raise and she flicks her gaze to Louis. “Tell me everything from the top.”

For her part, Zayn only looks mildly uncomfortable. “I was at Niall’s for the night,” she says, cheeks going red. Louis knows what _that_ means – and she also knows that it means Zayn was more relaxed than usual. “I don’t know what happened, or _how_ it happened, but suddenly I was in Daisy’s head. I only knew it was her when Phoebe appeared and called me Daisy. 

“We were in the woods. Phoebe was trying to lead me… us… I don’t know. We were heading back to here – to your house.” Zayn swallows and sighs. “There… Shit this is hard to say.”

“It’s okay,” Jay says softly. “Take your time.”

Liam appears with a pot of tea and five cups. She makes quick work of pouring everyone a cup and Jay gives her a grateful look. Louis holds hers close to her face, letting the smell fill her senses. 

“There were hunters _everywhere_ ,” Zayn whispers. She wipes a hand across her eyes. “I saw… I saw…”

“Everyone was dead,” Niall finishes. She’s holding Zayn close like she already knows everything that happened in her vision, and Louis realises she probably does. Zayn probably told her everything the second it happened. 

“Everyone?” Liam asks. She’s perched on the arm of the chair Louis is sitting in.

Zayn nods. “Phoebe was killed just before I woke up.”

Nausea ripples through Louis. She sets her cup down on the coffee table and stands up. Liam gives her a look.

“It could’ve just been a dream, though, right?” Louis asks. 

“Go get your dad,” Jay says. “He needs to be here for this.”

Louis opens her mouth to protest, but she does as is asked of her. She can hear the noises from the lounge room, mostly people just breathing. She can’t even _begin_ to process what is going on right now. 

She pushes the door open to her mum and dad’s room and makes her way over to her dad’s sleeping body. 

“Dad,” she says, reaching out a hand to shake his shoulder. “Dad, wake up.”

Mark’s eyes open and he looks up at Louis. “What’s going on?”

“Family meeting, downstairs,” she says. “Zayn had a vision.”

“I’m up,” Mark says. He swings his legs over the bed. Louis passes him a shirt before making her way back down the stairs.

“I need you and Louis to patrol,” Jay says once they’re both in the lounge room. “Just a sweep to make sure everything is the way it should be.”

Louis nods. She reaches for her trainers that are by the front door with everyone else’s shoes. She doesn’t even care that she’s still in her pyjamas. 

“I’ll get Ashley to make sure that the wards are still in place,” Jay continues. “We can’t be too careful.”

“What’s going on?” Mark asks, a bewildered look on his face.

Jay gives him a small, sad smile. “There are hunters in town.”

~*~


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

Exhaustion runs deep in Louis’ bones. 

She spent the rest of the night patrolling. Even though she and her dad did a perimeter sweep, she still feels like she should be out there, protecting their property and their family.

Things are… weird.

The full moon is tomorrow night and Louis has felt its pull all week. 

She yawns as she makes her way back into the house after her third perimeter run.

“You need to rest,” Liam says, pushing a cup of tea into Louis’ hands. She shakes her head. Liam huffs and kisses Louis on the forehead. “I’ll go do the next one – you go get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep,” Louis replies. “Not when I know there are hunters in town.”

“Don’t make me get mum to alpha you into complying.”

“I’d like to see you try.” She gets bitchy when she’s tired. “Sorry. I didn’t mean–”

“I know. You need to rest. You’re no good to anyone when you’re too tired to focus.” Liam’s right. Because of course she is. 

Louis yawns again. “Come and get me in a couple of hours to do the next check?”

Liam nods. She scent marks Louis before Louis wanders up the stairs. She’s asleep the second her head hits the pillow.

“Lou, it’s dinner time.”

Louis sits up quickly. “What?”

Lottie gives her a slightly annoyed look. “It’s dinner time. Get up.”

Louis sits up with a yawn. She picks up her phone and sees a couple of texts from Harry, Zayn, and Niall, and then she notices the time. “How come you let me sleep so long?” she asks, swinging her legs off the bed to stand. She quickly pulls on some trousers and her trainers.

“I _told_ Mum that you would react like this,” Lottie says with a huff. She turns and leaves the room and Louis scrambles after her.

It’s only her werewolf reflexes that stop her from falling down the stairs in her haste to get down them. 

“Boo bear, I’m glad you’re awake,” Jay says, a smile on her face. “Come and sit.”

Louis shakes her head. “I need to do a sweep.”

“No, you need to sit down and eat,” Jay says, her tone hard. “Harry is with the twins right now. You need to have something to eat and then you can go for a sweep afterwards if you so desperately need to. Alright?”

Torn, Louis nods. She steps into her mum’s waiting arms and lets Jay scent mark her. It’s comforting, even though Louis is in a bit of a bad mood right now. 

“Go on, they’re in the lounge room.”

Louis kisses her mum’s cheek and heads into the lounge room where the twins are both sitting in Harry’s lap as she reads to them. After the night they all had, Louis isn’t surprised that the twins are tired. 

Her older cousins are sprawled around the lounge room, too, playing with their phones or handheld gaming consoles. Louis wishes that she could be them for just a moment – to be so carefree that she didn’t have to think about hunters and her baby sister having nightmares and _sharing_ said nightmare with Zayn.

“Tommo, you’re going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning,” Niall says jovially as she appears from god knows where.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, then immediately winces at her tone. “Sorry, that was mean. Hi.”

Niall grins and bumps their shoulders together. “I’m here for the pack meeting after dinner.”

“We’re having a pack meeting after dinner?” Louis asks.

Niall nods. “Yeah, your mum called everyone.”

Louis doesn’t know whether to feel annoyed that she has been kept in the dark, or proud that Harry has been included in the pack meeting. She figures she’ll deal with those feelings later. 

“Hi, love,” Louis says, wandering further into the lounge room. Harry looks up and smiles at her.

“Hey.”

Louis leans over and kisses her softly on the lips. Then she kisses Daisy and Phoebe on the tops of their heads so they don’t feel left out.

Before she can even open her mouth to say anything else, Uncle Emmett calls out that dinner is ready.

“C’mon, munchkin,” Louis says, holding her arms out to Phoebe. Phoebe all but launches herself at Louis and Louis laughs as she catches her. She swings Phoebe easily onto her back and makes her way to the dining room where there are several extra places set. She settles Phoebe into her chair with its booster seat and then takes the seat next to her. She figures that she can at least help out this way.

Harry comes in with Daisy still on her hip. Daisy’s face is practically buried in Harry’s neck, her little fists clinging onto her tightly. 

“I want Harry to sit next to me,” she says. 

There’s some rearranging, but Harry sits next to Daisy on her other side. Dinner is served and Louis cuts up Phoebe’s food into smaller pieces for her before starting on her own dinner. There’s a bit of tension in the air – Louis is certain that everyone can feel it, even the humans among them. She doesn’t like this at all. She just wants things to go back to how they were – peaceful and enjoyable. Their family doesn’t deserve to be constantly on the look-out for hunters.

It’s so odd to Louis – there hasn’t been hunters in town since Liam’s family were killed when they were six. For there to be hunters _now_ is just so odd. 

After that fateful night, Jay had brokered a peace treaty with the hunters that had been in town at the time. The ones that killed Liam’s family had been rogue hunters, that didn’t live by whatever code it was they had. But almost twelve years of peace has made Louis soft. She didn’t appreciate it while she had it. And now that it’s fractured, she’s desperately scrambling to get it back.

Liam catches Louis’ gaze across the table. She looks tired, Louis notices. There’s no doubts in her mind that Liam is remembering the last time they faced off hunters. 

Once everyone has finished dinner, and the twins are in bed, Jay asks everyone to the lounge room. Louis squashes into an arm chair with Harry while the rest of their family take seats. Jay stands in front of them, one hand on her big, pregnant belly, the other on her hip.

“Ashley, how are the wards?” she begins.

Auntie Ashley nods. “They’re all in tact. Zayn and I checked over all of them this afternoon and none of them have been touched.”

“Good. Nate, what’s the word on the street?”

Uncle Nate’s expression shifts. “I haven’t been able to get anything out of my regular guys,” he says. Uncle Emmett puts his hand on Uncle Nate’s thigh. “No one knows anything of hunters being in town.”

“Odd, but not unexpected,” Jay says. “Mark, Liam – what was the last sweep like?”

“Everything is as it usually is,” Mark replies. 

“I turned fully and I couldn’t sense, _or_ smell anything out of place,” Liam adds. 

Jay nods again. “Alright,” she says. “As much as I don’t want to say this, we all need to be _constantly_ aware of our surroundings. We all need to be _very_ careful what we say in the presence of humans. The wrong person could hear and… well, that isn’t something I particularly want to think about, but we need to be prepared.

“The last time there were hunters, only one of us survived.”

Louis’ gaze reflexively goes to Liam. 

“I do not want a fight with whoever these hunters are,” Jay continues. “I will reach out to the Argents who were here last and make sure that our treaty is still in effect. 

“We will patrol in pairs for the next three nights. The full moon is tomorrow, so we especially need to be careful then. I will get Ashley to set up more wards just in case. 

“Zayn, I hate to do this, but–”

“I know,” Zayn says, nodding. “I’ll stay.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it.” Jay sighs and rubs a hand over her face. “Alright. So, most of you know the incident that happened last night. Daisy came into her powers. I’m still not exactly sure of the how and why, but it’s happened. Phoebe is still human for the moment. We’re still not sure how Daisy and Zayn shared a dream or psychic connection, but it’s given us the warning we need. Every single one of you will be expected to patrol. I will not hear arguing over this, and I will not accept any slacking. This is our pack. Our family. We’re all being threatened here, and I need to know the second if something happens. Have I made myself clear?”

Everyone nods. 

Jay flashes her eyes red at everyone and one by one, the werewolves in the room flash their eyes back at her. 

“I love each and every single one of you,” Jay says. “Be safe. Be sensible. Be vigilant. Mark and Emmett, you’re on the first patrol.”

Everyone starts to leave the room at once, so Louis stays put. 

“Mum, what about me?” Louis asks when the room is mostly empty. She gets up out of the chair she’s in and looks at her mum. 

“You, poppet, are staying in tonight,” Jay says. “I need you to set up Zayn’s room for her, and make sure there are fresh towels out, alright?”

“But–”

“No arguing,” Jay says with a finality to her voice. “Go on. I’m sure Harry has questions she wants you to answer. Nothing like throwing her into the deep end.”

Louis bites back a sigh. She nods. “Alright,” she says. She turns back to face Harry, who has a slightly baffled expression. “C’mon, let’s go upstairs.”

Harry follows Louis up the stairs. Louis stops at the linen press and takes out bedsheets, towels, and pillows for Zayn’s room. She nods towards a door and Harry opens it.

“You smell confused.”

“I _smell_ confused?” Harry repeats, giving Louis an incredulous look.

“Yeah. Sorry. I…” she sighs heavily. “It’s been a long day.”

“Let’s get this done and you can talk to me about it, yeah?” Harry suggests. Louis nods. They strip the bed of its old sheets and Louis stuffs them into the pillowcase. She’ll sort them out much later. Right now, her brain hurts far more than it has any right to.

She explains to Harry what happened the night before. How Daisy and Zayn shared a dream, how there are hunters in town – and what hunters exactly are.

“So they kill werewolves just because they’re werewolves?” Harry asks, sounding shocked.

Louis nods. “Yeah,” she replies. “Some only kill werewolves if they’re doing harm to others, but there are some out there that consider it a sport. That’s how…” She swallows thickly. “That’s how Liam’s parents died.”

Harry goes pale. “Shit.”

“Yeah.”

They work silently. Louis figures Harry is probably processing everything Louis told her. Louis sets the towels on the edge of the bed when they’re done. She takes Harry’s hand and leads her to her own bedroom, closing the door behind them. 

“What do the different coloured eyes mean?” Harry asks when they’re comfortable on Louis’ bed. “I noticed there were a lot of gold eyes, but your mum and Liam have different coloured eyes?”

This is harder than Louis thought it would be.

“The alpha always has red eyes,” Louis starts slowly. “Betas have gold or blue. Um… What I say… I don’t… it’s not to be taken lightly.”

Harry nods but stays silent.

“Liam’s family were slaughtered,” she starts, hoping beyond all hope that Liam isn’t listening in right now. “We were six and a few hunters came in and killed every single one of them. Liam was spared because she was sleeping over here…

“It was… God this is hard.” She takes a breath and plucks at a loose string on the hem of her shirt. She flicks out a claw and slices it off. “Blue eyes means you’ve killed someone.”

Silence envelops them.

“But Liam was six,” Harry whispers, sounding as heartbroken as Louis feels. She hates remembering that night. She hates that it even _happened_. 

Louis nods and turns to look at Harry properly. “Liam came into her powers that night,” she says softly. “She couldn’t save everyone, but she protected her family. The hunter had mum cornered. She was pregnant with Lottie at the time, so she was slower than usual. And the hunter had a Taser in hand. He would’ve killed her if it hadn’t been for Liam.”

Harry’s gasp fills the room. Her eyes shine with tears and she throws her arms around Louis in a tight hug, holding her impossibly close. 

“I don’t know what to say.”

Louis gently cups Harry’s face. “You don’t have to say anything.”

“She was _six_ ,” Harry whispers, tears rolling down her cheeks. “That’s barely older than the twins.”

“I know,” Louis says. “I was there.”

Harry makes a choked off noise. Louis reaches for a tissue and passes it to her. 

“These are things you need to know if you’re serious about becoming a werewolf,” Louis says gravely. “Whether or not you become one is irrelevant. But these things are still important for you to know. There are weaknesses we have, things that hunters know about and they exploit them freely. But we’re incredibly strong. We’re strong alone, but we’re stronger together. A pack is more than family. We’re all bonded for life, and it’s not something I would _ever_ change. For myself. But you still have time to decide if you want to be a part of this. 

“If you want to, you have a choice to ignore everything I’ve told you and go and live your live however you want to,” she continues, trying to get everything out. “But if you _want_ , you’re already a part of this pack in my eyes. And everyone else will accept you as well.”

Harry practically throws herself at Louis. “I want,” she mumbles, finding Louis’ lips with her own. “I want _very much_. I’m so hopelessly in love with you. And there’s that whole imprinting thing, too.”

Louis tries not to smile at that. “I still want you to have a choice.”

“I do,” Harry says emphatically. “And I _choose you_.”

Louis sinks into the kiss. She needs this right now. She needs the comfort of Harry, of her mate, of being in the house with every member of the pack. 

There is a threat on the horizon and Louis needs Harry to know that she’ll do _whatever_ it takes to protect everyone she loves. Harry included.

~*~

The crunching of the leaves behind her is the only indication that Louis has company. She turns around, pulling her jumper down over her body properly. She sees her dad’s eyes flash gold in her direction and she returns the action.

“Everything’s secure,” he says.

Louis nods. She bends down to tie her shoelaces back up. She had fully shifted to do her part of the perimeter sweep – she always senses things better as a full wolf. She would’ve sensed if anything had been out of place. Nothing was. She could smell the new wards that Auntie Ashley had put up with Zayn earlier on, and she could hear the humming of the old ones still working.

“Can we talk?”

Louis looks up. She tightens her shoelace and stands. “What about?” 

Mark sighs. He runs a hand over his face and shifts awkwardly from one foot to the other. “I wanted to apologise.”

It’s hard not to be shocked. She wasn’t expecting _that_ at all.

“When you… after you came out, I know I was… different.”

Louis snorts indelicately. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Mark makes a face. “I guess I deserve that.” He sighs. Louis folds her arms over her chest. “I know you think I’m a huge hypocrite because I can accept Nate and Emmett, but not you, but it’s _different_ when it’s your own child. I’m trying. I’m trying to understand you better.”

Louis feels her jaw harden, but she stays silent. She wants to hear what he has to say before reacting. 

“The way I treated you… The way I treated Liam… that’s not what a good parent does.”

“No, it’s not,” she says, her tone hard.

This is not what she wants to hear. She wants to hear how utterly sorry he is for being so pathetic about the fact that his two eldest daughters are queer. She wants him to beg for her forgiveness, to actively _do_ better, rather than just stand in front of her saying that he’s ‘trying’. 

She wants her dad to hold her and tell her that he’s sorry he was wrong and that he loves her no matter what. And that he accepts her the way she is. 

And then she wants him to grovel at Liam’s feet and beg her to even think about forgiving him because Liam deserves that at the very least. 

“I’m _trying_ ,” Mark repeats. Louis can hear his heart so she knows he’s not lying at least. “I only want you to be happy. That’s all any parent wants. And seeing you with Harry… I know she makes you happy.”

“She does,” Louis replies. “But you don’t get to comment on that. Not after you’ve treated me like _shit_ for the last year. Not when you told Liam that she _wasn’t your daughter_. That was disgusting and cruel. And you _are_ a massive hypocrite.

“We can’t change our sexualities or identities just like Uncle Nate and Uncle Emmett can’t. You accepted _them_. Why couldn’t you accept us?”

Mark sighs. “I’m trying. Doesn’t that count?”

“Try _harder_ ,” she says. She brushes passed him as she stalks back towards the house, fuming. She gets to her room, strips off again and leaps out of her open window. 

The ground is hard and unforgiving under her paws, setting with the cold of winter. She can hear everything the woods has to offer at night time. There are no birds chirping, no rustling of plants or leaves, or anything like that. Everything is asleep. Just like she should be. But she’s too fired up right now. She needs to get this out of her system before she can even think of getting some rest. 

Louis reaches the clearing and sits on her haunches. She’s panting heavily, tongue hanging out of her mouth. She hates how Mark makes her feel. He’s meant to be her dad. He’s meant to love and accept her _regardless_. She hates that he can pick and choose what parts of her to love. That’s _not_ how a parent should work.

A twig snaps behind her, and she bears her teeth, a low growl forming in her throat. 

She sees Liam approach, her hands out in front of her like she’s surrendering. Louis huffs and turns around, facing the clearing again. Liam sits down at her side. Louis can feel the warmth radiating from her. Liam drapes her arm across Louis’ body and Louis moves, resting her head in Liam’s lap, letting her scratch behind Louis’ ears. 

“Dad came to see me.”

Louis lifts her head slightly as if to say ‘go on’, which Liam thankfully understands. 

“He told me he talked to you,” Liam continues, her fingers working that perfect spot behind Louis’ left ear that she can never scratch on her own. “He said he’s sorry. That he’s sorry for the way he treated me after I came out. And for our fight a few months ago.”

Louis huffs, trying to show her annoyance. She’d shift back, but then she’d be naked, and it’s been snowing this week, so even her werewolf body would feel that kind of cold.

“I know you hate him for it, but I forgive him.”

Louis bodily stands up. She gives Liam a look and turns her head.

“Lou,” Liam says. “Lou. Don’t be like that. C’mon, he’s our dad. He loves us.”

Louis transforms back. “He has a funny way of showing it,” she says, her tone hard. She crosses her arms over her bare chest. Liam shrugs off her jacket and passes it to Louis. It barely covers her arse, but it’s warm.

“He made the first step–”

“He fucking should! He’s the adult here!” Louis explodes. “We’re his _kids_! He’s meant to love us unconditionally.”

“He’s apologised, isn’t that a start?”

Louis turns away from Liam, her chest heaving. Her claws extend and she fights for control, trying to slow her breathing, slow her heart rate to a normal speed.

“He knows that he’s done wrong by us and he wants to fix things,” Liam continues. She’s right behind Louis now. “I’m willing to try, even if you aren’t.”

Louis clenches her fists at her side. “I can’t just forgive all the bullshit that he said. He said that in front of our sisters – our _young_ and _extremely impressionable_ sisters. He implied that we weren’t _normal_ for being gay! That _you_ were broken for being asexual!

“You might be able to forgive that but I sure as hell don’t.”

She runs, phases on the fly, tearing Liam’s jacket in the process. She leaves the shredded remains in her wake.

~*~


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

The full moon the next day is the hardest one that Louis has ever been through. Her heart aches for Daisy, who is still too young to know what’s going on, but it’s been thrust upon her without any warning. She spends most of the day crying. She and Phoebe cling to each other, neither wanting to go very far. 

The night time is the hardest – Phoebe is still human and can easily be hurt. She doesn’t have the super healing powers that comes with being a werewolf, so it’s dangerous for her to be around Daisy in case she loses control. 

What’s hardest of all is Phoebe crying herself to sleep in Louis’ arms, her stuffed Louis wolf teddy clutched tight in her little hands as she sobs. Louis knows that she and Daisy are bonded and not just in the twin way. She isn’t sure how much longer Phoebe will stay human with Daisy having come into her powers. She just hopes that she lasts the night through. Because dealing with _two_ five year old werewolves is something she isn’t sure she can handle right now.

School is the last thing on her mind right now, but Jay insists that Louis go the day after the full moon. She slumps into her seat in registration feeling completely strung out. She doesn’t want to be here right now, not at all.

“You look like shite,” Niall says from her seat next to Louis.

“Thanks.”

“Sorry,” Niall says. “You just don’t normally look so… yeah.”

“I was up all night with Phoebe,” Louis explains. “She eventually cried herself to sleep around one, only for Daisy to wake her up at two… I’ve had maybe eighty minutes of broken sleep all together?”

“Shit, that sounds horrid,” Niall replies. “I’ll be over after school if that helps?”

Louis nods. “It does,” she says. “I’m stopping at Harry’s for a little bit, but I’ll be home in time for dinner.”

Niall reaches over and pats Louis on the shoulder.

How she makes it through the day is beyond her. She feels like she can barely concentrate enough to walk let alone focus on any of her lessons. 

At lunchtime, Harry sits next to her and holds her hand under the table. She leans her head on Harry’s shoulder after she’s finished eating and closes her eyes. She must fall asleep because the next thing she knows, Harry is telling her that they need to get to their next lesson.

Liam takes the car home and Louis drives back to Harry’s with her. She grouches because she doesn’t have any clothes to change into, so Harry stays in her uniform in a show of solidarity.

“C’mon, let’s go lie down for a bit,” Harry says once they’ve had a snack. Louis takes Harry’s hand and lets Harry lead her up the stairs to her room. Harry puts on some soft instrumental music and Louis flops face first onto Harry’s bed. It’s so soft and warm, and it smells so intensely of Harry’s scent here. She deeply breathes it in.

“I’m worried about you,” Harry says a while later. Louis fell asleep again. She yawns and stretches, feeling marginally more awake now. Harry closes over her book and sets it down on the bedside drawers. Louis notices with amusement that she’s rereading _Twilight_.

“Hmm?” Louis hums. “Why’s that, love?”

“You’re so tired,” Harry says, shifting so she’s lying face to face with Louis. She cups Louis’ face in one hand and leans forwards, pressing their lips together. “You need to rest.”

“I do,” Louis replies. “Just last night was the full moon, so that took it out of me, too. I’ll be right as rain tomorrow.”

Harry sighs. “Just because you’ve got super powers it doesn’t mean that you don’t have limits.”

“I know,” Louis says softly. “Tonight will be easier. I’ll go home, have dinner, do my homework and get an early night.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” She kisses Harry soundly on the lips, enjoying this time alone with her. They move so Louis is braced on one arm over Harry. 

They kiss for a long while, slowly exploring each other’s mouths. Louis drinks in the noises Harry makes. She unbuttons Harry’s shirt and kisses down her clavicle, lingering on all of the spots that make Harry gasp. 

Louis loses herself for a little while. Loses herself in Harry, in the moment. Loses herself in being a teenager in love. 

Later, when she’s home, she feels guilty for not being there to patrol with Liam. Liam, who has had just as much asleep as Louis has, or even less. Liam who has been silent and strong since the other night. Liam who Louis loves more than anyone else on this planet.

When they’ve finished patrolling, Louis pulls Liam into a tight hug. She knows that if it were anyone else, she’d be literally crushing them to death with how tight her hold is, but Liam holds her back just as tight.

“I love you,” Louis whispers. She noses along Liam’s cheek until Liam turns her head, giving Louis access to her neck. “Stay with me tonight?” Liam nods. 

They don’t talk about the other night. Louis knows that Liam understands where she’s coming from. She may not be in the same boat as Louis is, but Louis knows Liam understands.

Mark hasn’t tried to talk to Louis again. Louis wouldn’t let him even if he attempted to talk to her. She is fine being civil with him in front of everyone else, but she wants nothing to do with him for the moment.

She isn’t sure how long she is going to hold onto this resentment, but it’s not something she can forgive or forget after one pathetic apology. After talking with Liam in the woods, she realised just how much he had hurt her. He probably doesn’t even realise it, but he cut her right to the core and she hasn’t been the same ever since. 

Their talk was him putting an Elastoplast on her giant gaping wound and expecting it to fix the problem. It won’t ever be fixed like that. Not until he realises just how badly he hurt her – hurt _them_. He alienated them for being different. Family wasn’t supposed to do that – _parents_ weren’t supposed to do that. 

Louis bites back a sob. The last thing she needs is for anyone to hear her crying. She scrubs at herself extra hard in the shower to compensate. Once she’s finished, Louis dries off. She throws on underwear and a shirt and climbs into bed. Liam joins her a moment later and Louis sighs heavily. She shuffles closer to Liam, letting herself be held by her sister. She falls asleep listening to the steady beat of Liam’s heart.

~*~

“It’s been a week and I haven’t had a single vision,” Zayn begins. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know if that means the hunters have left town, or if they were even here in the first place…”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Jay says, placing a hand on Zayn’s shoulder. 

Louis yawns. It’s late. It always feels late these days. This week has been one of the longest of her entire life. 

“I just feel like I should be doing _more_ ,” Zayn comments. 

“You’re doing _plenty_ , Zayn,” Jay says. “I’m very proud of you. And I’m grateful that you’ve stayed over this week. But I think you should go home. Like you said – it’s been a week and you haven’t had a single vision. If you have one, call me straight away. I don’t mind being woken up for these things.” She kisses the top of Zayn’s head as she gets up. “As for the rest of you, we can cut back on patrols. Between Zayn and Ashley’s wards, we have ample protection. I don’t need you girls missing any more school because of this, alright?”

“Yes, Mum,” Louis and Liam say in unison.

“Now go get some rest. All of you,” Jay says. “You all need it. Even you, Niall.”

Niall gives Jay a crooked smile. “Alright, then, we’re going to head out.”

Louis gets up to walk her friends out. She accepts their hugs, lingering longer than is probably necessary, but neither of them pull her up on it, which she is thankful for.

“Call us if you need to, alright?” Zayn says when Louis finally lets go of her. “And we’ll do the same.”

Louis nods. “Thanks,” she says. “I love you both so much. You know that, right?”

“’Course we do,” Niall replies. She pats Louis on the shoulder and climbs into her car. Zayn kisses Louis’ cheek softly before climbing into the passenger’s seat. Louis stays until she can no longer hear the car in the distance.

“Come inside, it’s getting too cold to be out here.” 

Louis turns and sees Liam standing there, in just a shirt and pyjama bottoms. Her lips automatically quirk upwards. 

“Alright,” she mumbles. She slings her arm around Liam’s middle and they walk into the house together. She follows Liam to her bedroom and climbs into Liam’s bed. When they haven’t been patrolling, they’ve been sleeping in the same bed. It brings Louis comfort. She doesn’t think she could sleep alone right now even if she tried. 

“I’m so nervous for tomorrow,” Liam says when they’re half asleep. Louis blinks up at her, questioningly. “My second date with Sophia is tomorrow.”

“That’s right,” Louis says around a yawn. “In all of the chaos of this week, I forgot.”

Liam shrugs. “It’s okay. I would’ve forgot, too, but, yeah.”

Louis gives her a small smile. “Just be yourself. She already likes you. You can’t really go wrong from there.”

“I know,” Liam says. She sighs and rubs at her eyes. “It’s just after everything that happened this week, I can’t help but be suspicious. What if Sophia’s the hunter?”

Louis blinks. “You can’t be serious?” 

Liam bites her lip and rolls onto her back. “It’s just… It’s shit timing, isn’t it? And it’s not like I have the best track record for luck…”

Louis sits up and looks down at Liam. “One, Zayn would’ve seen it, and two, you don’t have _bad luck_. You’ve had bad things happen to you, yes, but you’ve also had some really great things happen to you, too. I know you’re a pretty great thing that happened to me.”

Liam looks over at her and gives her a soft smile. “You’re a pretty great thing that happened to me, too.”

“I know, I’m pretty fabulous.” It gets Liam to smile properly, and that’s what Louis cares about. She leans down and kisses Liam’s cheek noisily. 

They settle back down, Louis’ arm thrown over Liam’s middle.

“I just don’t know what I’d do if she was the hunter, Lou,” Liam whispers a while later. “I don’t know what I’d do.”

A sigh escapes Louis. “I don’t know,” she admits. “It would be _shit_. Especially since she’s your mate.”

“That’s why it petrifies me.”

It takes Louis a long time to get to sleep that night.

~*~

Things continue to stay the same. Zayn doesn’t have any more visions, Daisy doesn’t share her dreams with Zayn, either, and the next two weeks passes without incident, much to everyone’s relief. They’re all constantly vigilant, though, no one wanting to risk being caught unawares. It’s hard, but they make it through.

School continues like usual, and Louis loses herself in being the best student that she can be. She and Harry do their homework together almost every night, either at Louis’ house, or Harry’s. 

The nights that Harry is at Louis’ house are often filled with Harry being filled in on all of their werewolf lore and history. Louis _loves_ sharing this part of herself, her life, and her being with Harry. And she loves that Harry is so accepting of it all.

She’s becoming a permanent fixture in Louis’ home and life, and Louis wouldn’t dream of it being any other way.

“Stop showing off,” Liam growls, her tone hard. They’re training as usual, but this time Harry is here watching for the first time ever.

Louis can’t help it, though. The full moon is tomorrow night, and her insides are positively singing already. 

Harry is sitting with their four sisters, watching them train, Daisy settled comfortably in her lap. Harry gives Louis a big, beaming smile when she looks over. Which, of course, is when Liam hits Louis so hard that blood flies out of her mouth. She hears Harry’s gasp, followed by Lottie’s immediate “she’s okay” comment. 

Louis growls, her eyes flash in Liam’s direction and she’s on her feet in no time, immediately swinging her fists in Liam’s direction. Liam dodges every blow. She moves faster than Louis has ever seen her move before, but Louis is more than able to keep up the pace. She matches every single one of Liam’s hits with one of her own, dodging and ducking when she sees Liam’s fists flying in her direction. She moves, kicks Liam’s legs out from underneath her and then pins Liam to the mat, sitting on top of her.

“I win,” she says smugly.

Liam huffs, but nods, patting Louis’ hip from where she sits. She moves off Liam, landing on the mat next to her, her chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath. She’s just had the match of her life against Liam and yet Louis still feels like she could go another round or ten.

“I need to go for a run,” Louis says, standing up. She bounces on the balls of her feet, casting her gaze to her sisters. “Who wants to come?”

“I’m _exhausted_ just from watching that,” Félicité says. “You can go run on your own.”

“I’ll come with you,” Harry says. 

Louis’ eyes widen in surprise. “I… are you sure?”

Harry nods. “Yeah. Can I borrow something to wear? I can’t exactly run in this.” She gestures to the dungarees she’s wearing. 

“I’ve got something that’ll fit you,” Liam says. “C’mon.”

Harry gets up and follows Liam from the room. Louis licks her lips as she watches Harry leave. 

“Ugh, you smell in love, it’s so gross,” Lottie comments, poking Louis in the shoulder as she passes her.

Affronted, Louis pokes her tongue out. “I _am_ in love.”

Energy still thrums in Louis’ veins. She ushers her little sisters from the training room and bounds up the stairs, too restless to stay still. She starts changing even before she realises what her body is doing. A few moments later, she’s in her wolf form. She hears Phoebe’s squeal of delight as she wanders down the hall.

Phoebe buries her face in Louis’ neck, giggling happily. “Wolf Lou! Wolf Lou!” she exclaims. “Daisy! Come see!”

Daisy appears a moment later, her fingers digging into Louis’ side as she climbs on top of her. “Lou! Let’s go!” Phoebe scrambles to get up on Louis’ back, too, and she huffs. She can’t exactly communicate to her sisters that they can’t come on the run with her right now.

She makes her way down the hall to Liam’s room and butts the closed door with her snout. A moment later, the door opens and Harry gasps. 

“Whoa,” she mumbles, kneeling down in front of Louis. “You’re beautiful.” Louis positively _preens_.

“Are you really going out like that?” Liam asks, appearing behind Louis. Louis looks over at her sister and nods. Liam sighs. “Daisy, Phoebe, off, c’mon, I’ve got lunch prepared for you downstairs.”

Both Daisy and Phoebe make noises of protest as Liam lifts them off Louis, settling them on her hips. 

“Bye, wolf Lou,” Daisy says sadly.

Louis nudges her foot with the top of her head and Daisy smiles. 

“Don’t be too long, okay?” Liam says to Louis. Louis gently butts her head into Liam’s thigh. Liam smiles and Louis wiggles happily.

She turns back to Harry and puts her paw on Harry’s leg where she’s still kneeling. Harry seems to understand that Louis is ready to leave and she swishes her tail against Harry’s hand as she stands. 

“I guess we’ll be back after,” Harry says. Louis trots down the stairs and waits patiently at the back door. 

Being out in the woods with Harry like this is so new and exciting to Louis. She knows that she’s showing off, bounding all over the place, but she can’t help it. Harry is _here_ with her, while she’s in her wolf form and she isn’t freaking out, and she isn’t running away. This is the _best ever_.

“You’re very energetic for someone who just had the fight of _my_ life,” Harry comments as she ducks her head under a branch. 

Louis lolls her tongue out of her mouth. The downside to being like this is that she can’t talk to Harry. But her wolf is _incredibly_ happy with how things are right now – being in the woods with her mate, and the full moon so close, too.

An interesting smell catches Louis’ attention and she noses along the ground until she finds it. Harry waits patiently for her to find whatever it is. But Louis finds nothing. She frumps, pawing at the ground a little more, searching. In the end, she swishes her tail and trots on off ahead, circling back to Harry when she gets too far away from her.

“The full moon is tomorrow night,” Harry comments when Louis falls into step with her. Her hand brushes over the top of Louis’ head. Louis practically purrs. “Can I come over?” 

Louis nods her head. She knows that Harry will be able to understand _that_.

“This is so cool,” Harry says softly. Louis licks Harry’s hand and grins when Harry’s face crinkles in disgust. “Ugh, that was gross. Why do I love you again?” Louis just nudges Harry’s thigh with her snout and smiles internally when Harry’s hand comes to rest on her head.

~*~

The next night after dinner, everyone prepares themselves for the full moon. The house is utter chaos as everyone moves around. Louis leads Harry up to her room and closes the door.

“We’ve got a little while yet,” she says. Harry grins and steps into Louis’ space, kissing her soundly on the lips. 

They fall onto the bed, their bodies lining up against each other’s with practiced ease. Louis loses herself in it, loses herself in the fact that Harry is _here_ on her bed, drowning the sheets in her scent. Louis’ going to go crazy with that later, she just knows it.

“What should I expect tonight?” Harry asks, cupping Louis’ face gently. She swipes her thumb over Louis’ cheekbone. Louis turns her head and kisses the palm of Harry’s hand. 

“We just run, mostly,” Louis replies. “The twins often ride me or Liam because they can’t really keep up. Mum used to lead us but she can’t shift while pregnant, so I do. Everyone else just runs. Or walks. We do have humans in the pack, after all.”

Harry nods, a serious expression on her face. “Will Niall and Zayn be here?”

“Yeah, of course, they’re pack,” Louis replies. She shifts so she’s not hovering over Harry any more, but lying on her side. “You can walk with them. Or…”

“Or…?” 

“You could ride me?” Louis suggest softly. “If I’m strong enough to carry you in my human form, I’m strong enough to carry you in my wolf form. You could ride on my back.”

Harry blinks, her eyes wide. “I won’t hurt you?” 

Louis shakes her head. “Not at all.” She lifts Harry’s hand to her lips and kisses her fingers. “I’d love it if you rode on my back tonight.”

“I… Okay.” She’s hesitant, but she nods and Louis beams. She closes the gap between them and kisses Harry soundly on the lips.

It’s only too easy for Louis to lose herself in kissing Harry. She wants to drown in Harry’s scent. Especially tonight. With the full moon peeking at the edge of the sky, tugging on Louis’ insides, calling her.

When Harry rolls them over and pins Louis to the bed, she wants to bear her neck and let Harry own her. Harry, for her part, can seem to tell that this is what Louis wants. She dips her head and trails bruising kisses down Louis’ neck, her teeth scraping against the soft skin. 

“I hate that I can’t leave love bites on you,” Harry whispers, her lips still against Louis’ neck. Her legs are on either side of Louis’ hips, her body feeling so perfectly comfortable on top of Louis’ own.

“I know you’ve done it, though,” Louis whispers back, closing her eyes. She can slow down the healing if she wants to, but on the full moon, it’s harder to do. “C’mon, we’d better get ready, everyone is heading downstairs.” Louis pulls Harry in for one last, lingering kiss, before reluctantly getting up off the bed. “I’ll meet you downstairs after I change.”

Harry nods. She squeezes Louis’ hand gently and leaves the room. Louis takes off her clothes, looks out her window to the moon hanging in the sky and smiles. She closes her eyes, feeling the moon’s pull taking over her. She shifts, her body changing shape as she transforms into the wolf. She leaps from her open window, landing on all four paws with a soft sound. The ground is hard and cold underneath her feet. Winter is truly settling in.

The back door opens and the rest of her family gather in the garden. Daisy and Phoebe both pat Louis’ side, digging their little fingers into her fur before Phoebe goes over to Liam and climbs up on her back. She sees Daisy’s sad look, but their mum scoops her up and kisses her cheek loudly, which makes Daisy smile. It’s only her second full moon as a wolf, so tonight will still be hard for her, but Louis is glad she isn’t crying this time. She waves Phoebe off, smiling brightly, and Phoebe smiles back at her. It warms Louis’ heart watching them. 

“Alright, everyone,” Jay says when they’re all gathered around. “Stay safe. And have fun.”

Giggles erupt from Phoebe as Liam shoots for the tree line. Louis follows, hot on her heels. She’ll turn back around after and let Harry ride on her back for a while, but right now she needs to run with her family. 

After a while, Louis circles back to where Harry is walking with Zayn and Niall, their chatter leading Louis directly to them. She noses both Niall and Zayn’s hands before sitting at Harry’s feet. 

“Have either of you ever ridden Louis before?” she asks, glancing at them both.

“Nah,” Niall says. “But we’ll help you on.”

After a little wobbling from Harry, she finally settles on Louis’ back securely enough. She digs her knees and hands in a little tighter than the twins do, but Louis quickly adjusts.

She stands up fully and Harry’s ‘whoa’ fills the night air. 

“You’ll be right,” Zayn says easily, smiling at them both. “Have fun!”

Louis wanders off, slowly at first so that Harry can get used to the feeling. 

“This is… surreal,” Harry mumbles, her tone filled with awe.

If Louis could smile, she would. She picks up her pace and trots off to where she can smell Liam and the twins. She catches up to them easily and brushes her head along Liam’s neck, getting in close. Liam playfully nips at her in return. Phoebe giggles.

“Race, Lou!” Phoebe exclaims. “Liam will win!”

With a low, playful growl forming in her throat, Louis shoots off, Harry’s surprised squeal filling her ears. It quickly turns into laughter as they run through the woods, chasing each other under the light of the full moon.

~*~


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **!!!NOTE!!!** this chapter gets a little sexy. Nothing explicit or descriptive, but it is there. Please take note!
> 
> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

It’s the winter holidays, and Louis is intent on enjoying her last few school free days. She’s relaxed with her family, eaten far too much, traded gifts with Harry, turned eighteen, and celebrated the New Year with her pack – including sharing a kiss with Harry. Things are finally looking up.

“So,” Harry whispers, giggling into Louis’ neck. “My parents aren’t home at all on Friday…”

“Yeah?” 

Harry nods. She bites her lip and gives Louis a _look_. Her toes curl in her shoes. “I was thinking maybe you’d like to come over?”

“I’d love that,” Louis replies. She’s glad they’re at Harry’s place and not at her house because absolutely _everyone_ would be able to hear the uptick in her heart at the implication of what a Friday alone will mean for them.

The rest of the week drags. 

Louis is a bundle of nervous energy. She knows that her mum knows something is up with her, but she’s too heavily pregnant to bother asking, and Louis knows she’ll tell her mum eventually. She just wants this to be for her right now.

Liam, of course, guesses when they’re out patrolling. They don’t do perimeter sweeps as often anymore, but Louis still likes to do them – it helps put her mind at ease.

“I’m glad Sophia and I are both ace,” Liam says after Louis confirms just what Friday means. “There’s absolutely _no_ pressure from either of us to have sex.”

“There’s no pressure for me, either,” Louis says. “I want to. I’m just nervous. It’ll be my first time. And it’s not exactly like I can masturbate a whole lot in a house full of werewolves, either.”

Liam crinkles her nose. “Crass, Lou.”

Louis shrugs. “I’m looking forward to it. I have been ever since Harry first brought it up a while back.”

“Why have you waited so long, then?” Liam asks. 

Louis steps over a log. She sits down on it, the bark is cold, which quickly seeps through her jeans. “I don’t know. Timing, I guess. Her uncle was in town for those few weeks, which stopped a lot of our alone time. And then there was everything with Daisy and Zayn’s vision…”

“I guess that would dampen the mood a bit,” Liam says as she sits down on the log next to Louis.

Louis nods. “Just a little.”

“Have you told Mum?”

“I will after,” Louis says. “I don’t want to be going into it thinking of things that Mum has said, you know?”

“That makes sense,” Liam replies. She gets up and Louis follows. They continue their trek around the perimeter of their property, seeing that everything is how it should be still. 

On they walk back to their house, Liam stops and turns to Louis. 

“You’ll tell me too, right?”

Louis bumps their shoulders together. “Of course I will,” she replies. “You’re my sister. I’ll tell you _everything_ in _excruciating detail_.”

“On second thought, maybe I _don’t_ want to know.”

Louis’ laughter echoes through the trees around them.

~*~

Friday finally arrives.

Louis gets dropped off at Harry’s by Liam, who’s heading off to meet Sophia for lunch. She’s nervous. 

“H-hi,” Harry says as she opens the door. Her heart is thudding in her chest. At least she isn’t the only one who’s nervous.

Louis toes off her shoes and follows Harry through the house.

“I made lunch,” she says. 

“Aces,” Louis replies. 

They sit in the lounge room to eat, both not really looking at each other, but both definitely not paying attention to the television and whatever it’s playing – Louis has no idea. It’s taking all of her concentration to just eat the food Harry prepared for them. 

After they’ve eaten, they both stay there on the sofa, finishing the movie they were watching (which Louis still has no idea what it was called, or what it’s even about). 

“Want to go to my room?” Harry asks.

Louis nods. “Y-yeah. Yes. Yeah.”

Harry grins at her. They clean up their plates and moments later, Louis is walking up the stairs with Harry. She shuts the bedroom door firmly behind them and turns to face Louis properly. They kiss. Because kissing is easy. And now that Louis doesn’t have to restrain her strength around Harry, she picks Harry up and carries her to the bed. 

“God, I love that,” Harry mumbles against Louis’ lips. They settle on the bed, manoeuvring until they’re comfortable. 

Louis’ shirt is the first to go, flung over the edge of the bed somewhere. She loses herself in their kisses. This is familiar ground, something that doesn’t make her nervous anymore. Harry’s lips are soft and warm under her own.

They’re both shirtless before Louis even registers what’s going on and Harry flicks her bra open with quick moves that Louis is frankly a little jealous of. She struggles to undo her _own_ bra at times let alone Harry’s. Which is proven when Harry just giggles and reaches behind herself to take it off. 

This is good – Louis enjoys this chest to chest contact with Harry. It’s only happened a handful of times since the first time, but it’s never any less incredible. She loves the feeling of Harry’s skin against her own. It drives her wolf wild, too.

“How do you want to do this?” Harry asks, pulling back. She looks up at Louis, a little breathless, and her eyes wide.

“Umm, I don’t know,” Louis replies honestly. She rolls off Harry and onto her side, her hand immediately settling on Harry’s hip. 

“Well, I could touch you?” Harry suggests. Her gaze flicks down and heat automatically pools between Louis’ legs.

“Umm, y-yeah?” 

Harry bites her bottom lip. “Or you could touch me?”

“I don’t mind?” 

“Let’s take our trousers off first,” Harry says. Her hands are on the zipper of her jeans and she’s shimmying out of them before Louis’ brain catches up. 

She hurries out of her own, wriggling until she’s finally got them off. She throws them over the edge of the bed and lies there in just her knickers. She chose a black pair for today. They’re nothing fancy, just simple briefs, but she likes that they’re black. Louis chances a look over at Harry. Her knickers are red. Louis’ mouth is suddenly very, very dry. 

“Kiss me?” Harry asks. Louis nods. This she can do. Kissing she’s _great_ at.

They both roll on their sides to face each other and kiss. Louis has no idea what to do with her hands. She’s touched Harry’s boobs and her arse before, sure, but this is completely new territory. She’s never been so… so _naked_ with Harry before. 

“You’re beautiful,” Harry whispers against Louis’ lips. “I’m so lucky to have you.”

Louis’ cheeks flush. She takes her hand off Harry’s hip and cups her face with it. “I’m lucky to have you, too.” Harry’s smile makes Louis’ insides sing. 

A startled noise escapes Louis when Harry pushes her onto her back and settles on top of her. Her hands automatically touch Harry’s back, roaming up the smooth skin. She cups Harry’s arse in one hand and it makes Harry grin at her. Their lips crash together a moment later, their teeth knocking into each other as they’re too busy smiling. Louis finally loses herself in it, squeezes Harry’s arse with one hand, and gently cups Harry’s boob in the other. Harry’s breath stutters in her throat when Louis thumbs over the nipple.

“Do that again.” Louis is quick to comply. She moves so she’s holding both of Harry’s boobs in her hands, gently thumbing over the nipples. Harry’s groans make her ache between her legs. 

“Can I take your knickers off?” Harry asks, looking up at Louis. 

“Only if you take yours off, too,” Louis replies. Harry moves off Louis and pulls down her knickers. Louis stops breathing. She only comes back to it when Harry flicks at the elastic of her knickers, making Louis jolt. She hastily shoves them down and throws them over the side of the bed. 

They just stare at each other for a few long moments. Louis wants to reach out and just _touch_ , but she’s hesitant. Harry must see her hesitation because she’s taking Louis’ hand in her own and just holding it. She squeezes gently and Louis looks up. She can’t believe this is real. That this is actually happening between them. 

“I’m so nervous,” Louis blurts out. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You couldn’t,” Harry replies. Her smile makes Louis’ heart grow in her chest.

“I could,” Louis replies. “I don’t want to lose control.”

Harry slides closer. “You won’t.” 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Louis asks. She wants to check again before they keep going.

Harry nods. Her lust filled gaze meets Louis’ and she presses right up against Louis. Her lips are scorching hot against Louis’ own. 

They fall back against the bed, kissing. Louis lets herself feel every single movement between them. She isn’t startled when Harry takes Louis’ hand and guides it between her legs. Louis’ breath catches in her throat. They both groan as Louis parts Harry’s folds and touches her for the first time. She’s so wet, and her heat fills Louis from the inside. This is what heaven must feel like, she decides. 

The fingers of Harry’s other hand dig into Louis’ upper arm. Her breath stutters against Louis’ neck. Together, their fingers move against Harry, touching her, teasing her, until her moans fill the room. Louis is in awe. Their lips find each other and Louis’ fingers stop moving. She can’t concentrate on two things at once. 

They shift positions until Harry is lying on her back, one hand on the back of Louis’ neck, the other clutching the sheets underneath them. 

“I’m close,” Harry whispers. It’s almost Louis’ undoing. Her hand is back between Harry’s legs, hesitant, but determined. She follows Harry’s moans, touching her, rubbing at that sensitive nub until Harry’s heartbeat picks up even faster in her chest and she clings tightly to Louis as she comes. 

Louis is stunned. She can’t believe she made Harry orgasm. Shit. This is _wild_. She gently removes her hand from between Harry’s legs and flexes her fingers, seeing them wet from Harry’s orgasm. 

Before she has a chance to really register what’s going on, Harry is throwing herself at Louis, pushing her back into the bed and kissing her hotly. Louis moans, hands scrambling to hold onto Harry. She gasps when Harry’s leg finds its way between her own, pressing right up against her crotch. She automatically ruts down against it, the friction too delicious not to. 

“Touch me?” Louis asks softly, looking up at Harry. Harry grins at her and nods. She kisses Louis once more before sucking on two of her fingers and guiding them between Louis’ legs.

The first touch is electric. Louis’ eyes widen dramatically. Never in her life has she experienced anything like this before. Touching herself never felt _this_ good before. 

Harry seems to know what she’s doing, which is a godsend because Louis is absolutely useless right now. Her breathing is heavy, sweat prickles her skin, and a warm heat pools in her belly. She clings onto Harry. Her body tenses as she comes. 

Stars explode behind her eyes.

Louis sees galaxies. 

She must black out for a moment because when she opens her eyes again, Harry looks _far_ too smug. 

“You totally blacked out,” Harry whispers. Her nose drags against Louis’ jaw. She kisses there, lingering. Louis’ wolf rumbles happily. “I’m so good at sex that you blacked out.”

Louis snorts with laughter despite herself. She pulls Harry in close, wraps her arms around her middle, and kisses her slowly. “You’re _the best_ at sex,” she whispers back. Harry just grins.

~*~

They’re standing in the kitchen later, shoulder to shoulder, both wearing Harry’s dressing gowns. Louis’ is a little long, reaching her ankles, while Harry’s is shorter, fluffier and pinker. Louis absolutely loves it on Harry. She tells her so.

Harry’s cheeks go red and she turns to face Louis a little better. Their lips slot together easily. Louis can taste the toast they’ve just finished eating on her tongue. Their cups of tea go forgotten as they stand in the middle of the kitchen, kissing. 

On a whim, Louis twirls them. She grins when Harry laughs. 

“Are we dancing?” she asks, nose brushing against Louis’ own. Louis nods. “But there’s no music.”

“We don’t need music to dance,” Louis whispers. She kisses Harry again, swaying with her to the beat of the rhythm in her mind. Harry lets out a happy sigh. Louis’ toes curl happily into the cold tiles. She never wants this moment to end.

“C’mon,” Harry says. She takes Louis’ hand and leads her back to her bedroom. The door closes behind them and Louis can’t stop staring at Harry. She licks her lips and shrugs off her dressing gown. Harry does the same.

They get comfortable on the bed, Harry hovering over Louis again. She presses gentle kisses along the column of Louis’ neck, down her sternum, and she pauses at Louis’ boobs. Her breath catches in her throat when Harry takes the nipple into her mouth.

The only sounds in the room is their heavy breathing. Louis can’t believe this is happening. She can’t quite believe that they had sex. That they’re probably going to have sex again. She grins and Harry catches it.

“What?”

“Just thinking,” Louis mumbles. “We had sex.”

Harry giggles and lets her head rest on Louis’ chest. “Yeah, we did. It was pretty good.”

“It was _the best_ ,” Louis replies emphatically. 

“Want to do it again?”

“Absolutely.”

They both giggle as they kiss, both too giddy, both too happy, both wanting this so much. Louis rolls them over so she’s on top of Harry. She strokes down her body, watching Harry’s face for signs of what she likes. She stops at Harry’s pubic mound. She runs her hands through the curls there a few times before dipping lower. Harry gasps. Her eyes flutter closed as Louis parts her folds. It’s much like the first time, but this time, Louis is touching Harry by herself.

Harry clings to Louis, her fingers digging into Louis’ shoulders. It would leave bruises if Louis were anyone else. 

It’s incredible, to be with Harry like this. Louis feels so utterly wrapped up in Harry and what they’re doing. She feels so connected to her. Harry’s fingers dig in a little harder and her breathing changes, her heart picks up speed in her chest and before Louis knows it, she’s coming again. 

This time, Louis leaves her fingers where they are. Harry lies back on the bed, panting. She blinks up at Louis, giving her a shy smile. Louis chooses then to remove her hand from between Harry’s legs, dragging her finger over Harry’s sensitive clit as she does, just to see how Harry reacts. She smirks when Harry’s eyes flutter closed, her mouth open in a silent moan. 

“Shit,” Harry whispers, her chest still heaving. Louis kisses her. “That was _so good_.” 

“We really are the best at sex,” Louis mumbles against Harry’s lips. Harry just smiles. 

They just kiss, slower this time, taking each other in. Louis can’t stop touching Harry. She runs her hands over every single inch of Harry’s skin that she can reach – down her back, over her thighs, lingering on her arse, which Harry seems to love if the way she pushes back into Louis’ hand is any indication. Louis never wants today to end.

“Lie back, I want to touch you, too,” Harry says after a while. She leans against Louis until Louis is lying on her back. Harry moves to straddle her thighs and looks down at her.

“Hi,” Louis says stupidly. Harry smiles down at her. 

“Hi.” Harry runs her hands down Louis’ chest, cupping both of her boobs in her hands, thumbing over the nipples. Louis gasps, arching into Harry’s touch.

“I love you,” Harry says. She leans forwards until her lips touch Louis’ own. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Louis whispers back. She loses herself in kissing Harry. She cards a hand through Harry’s hair where it’s falling over her shoulder. The strands tickle Louis’ face. Harry giggles. 

“I can’t see you with this in the way,” she says. She leans over Louis to grab a hair tie off her bedside drawers, and Louis can’t help herself. She surges up, covering Harry’s nipple with her mouth. Harry’s gasp is music to Louis’ ears. Harry’s hand falls to the back of Louis’ head, holding her there. Louis works the nipple until it’s rock hard against her tongue.

She pulls off, glancing up at Harry whose eyes are closed, her mouth open, her lips so inviting. Harry’s gaze refocuses on Louis and she kisses her again. Their tongues slide against each other, their breath hot between them. Harry moans and Louis feels the noise right in her core. Harry pulls back a moment later and finishes putting her hair up. She gives Louis a triumphant grin before crashing her lips to Louis’ once more.

It’s incredible to feel like this, she thinks. She wonders if Harry feels the same. She can’t find the words to express herself, though, especially not when Harry’s nudging her legs apart and settling herself between them. Her fingers gently part Louis’ folds. The first press of Harry’s finger against her clit has Louis’ eyes snapping wide open and her breath coming out hard. 

She never wants this to end.

Harry’s fingers touch her so gently, so lovingly, and Louis feels absolutely helpless but to lie there and enjoy it. The tip of Harry’s finger circles Louis’ entrance and she’s nodding before Harry even opens her mouth to ask. The slide is a little uncomfortable, but Louis’ body quickly adjusts to the intrusion. The way Harry touches her is incredible. Her entire body feels like it’s on fire. She’s burning from the inside out with desire.

“So close,” Louis finds herself saying. She rocks down onto Harry’s hand, trying to get as much friction as possible. Harry’s finger slips from inside of Louis and she focuses on her clit, circling it and pressing _just so_ until Louis is trembling. Her entire body shakes as she comes, fists clutching the sheets underneath her, her breathing heavy as she tries to get as much air in her lungs as possible.

“The absolute _best_ at sex,” Louis mumbles. Harry grins and kisses her soundly on the lips. They trade lazy, sleepy kisses until they both fall asleep wrapped around each other, the scent of Harry burned into Louis’ skin.

~*~

Louis wakes with a start.

The room is dark, but that gives her no indication to what time it is. She blinks, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. She has no idea what woke her. Harry is fast asleep next to her, looking like every single one of Louis’ dreams come true. She can’t stop from smiling.

Then she hears it.

A distinct howl.

“Liam?” she mutters. Another howl follows. “Fuck. Harry, wake up.”

Harry blinks, looking at Louis. She smiles, but it quickly turns into a concerned look, probably because Louis’ face is panicked as she pulls on her knickers. “What’s wrong?”

“I can hear Liam howling, I need to get home.”

Harry sits up. She rubs her fits into her eyes. “Wait. You got dropped off. Want me to drive you?”

Louis nods. She finishes getting dressed, zipping up her jeans before pulling on her shoes. Harry finishes dressing quickly. She grabs her keys and Louis pauses, hearing another howl.

“Fuck. That was dad’s howl. Something’s really wrong.” 

Wordlessly, Harry passes Louis her car keys and Louis shoots her a grateful look before climbing into Harry’s car. She looks at the clock on the dashboard. It’s not that late, only coming up to seven. She drives as quickly as possible, hearing howls that make her heart thud in her chest. Once she reaches the start of her property line, she speeds up, needing to get to her family as fast as possible.

A million scenarios run through her brain – each worse than the one before it. She worries her bottom lip between her teeth, desperate to get home. The car screeches to a stop when Louis sees it. 

Flames envelop the manor. Louis’ heart thumps against her ribcage as she hears the screams of her family dying.

~*~


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **!!!NOTE!!!** this chapter has mature content: murder. Please take note!
> 
> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥

Louis rushes out of the car. Her eyes are on the flames. 

“Call for help,” she says to Harry. 

She runs towards the house, fear gripping her insides. She hits something and is thrown backwards a few metres. She lands on the ground with a thud.

“Louis!” Harry calls out. Louis scrambles to stand. She quickly walks, her hand out flat. She’s met with resistance and she sobs.

“Harry! Break the barrier!” she begs. “Please break the barrier!”

“How?” Harry asks. Her phone is in her hand, but it’s black like she hasn’t even made the call yet.

“There’s a mountain ash barrier. I can’t cross it, but you can break it with your foot,” Louis says in a rush. She points to the ground where the faint shimmer of mountain ash lines the ground. Harry hastily breaks the seal with her trainers. 

“Did I do it?” Harry asks.

Louis steps forward and nods. “Yes. Please call for help. I need to get to my family.”

Harry nods and Louis runs off towards the house. She kicks down the front door and pushes her way passed the broken shards. She follows the cries of her family, who are trapped somewhere inside.

“Mum?” she calls out. “Mum?”

“Louis?”

“Mum! Where are you?” The smoke is thick, like the fire has been burning for a while already. She can feel her lungs struggling to breathe properly.

“We’re in the training room!” Jay calls out.

Louis runs. She runs down the stairs to the training room where there’s a thick plank of mountain ash wood braced across the doorway. She lets out a sob. She looks around, trying to find something she can use to move it. 

“There’s mountain ash blocking the door!” she calls out. “Harry broke the seal outside, can you get out through the windows?”

“There’s mountain ash wood blocking them, too,” Jay calls back. 

A sob escapes Louis’ throat. She reaches for the wood but it instantly repelled. 

“I’ll be right back!” she yells. She races back up the stairs, grabs a dining room chair and throws it with all her might at the wood. It connects, the wood slips and topples away, giving Louis enough room to get the door open.

“Oh thank god,” Jay says. “Get the girls out. Quickly now.”

Louis grabs the twins, hoisting them onto her body. She grabs someone else’s hand and practically drags them up the stairs. 

The girls all scream when the support beam crashes down in front of them. Louis gasps. She dodges it and sets the twins down. 

“Stay here,” she instructs. She picks up an armchair and hurls it through the lounge room window. The sound of glass exploding is somewhat comforting.

“Harry is outside – go to her, get away from the house!” she yells. She picks each of her sisters up and carefully hoists them over the broken window shards and sets them on the ground. 

Once her four younger sisters are out safely, Louis makes her way back downstairs.

“Mum, c’mon,” Louis urges. There’s only Liam and her mum in the room. She has no idea where any of her uncles are, or her dad, but she hopes they got out safely.

“My water’s broken, sweetheart,” Jay says sadly.

Louis stares at Liam. “Help me get her up.”

Liam nods. Together, they hoist Jay up. She barely makes a noise, but Louis knows she has to be uncomfortable right now. 

“There’s some debris we have to get passed, but that’s all there is,” Louis says.

It’s slow work. Louis can feel her lungs struggling. She tries not to think about how hard it must be for her mum right now. They keep moving. Louis has to go through the front door – there’s no way she could lift her mum safely out of the lounge window and not do any damage. 

“Harry’s called for help,” she says. “Take mum to her, get her comfortable. Where’s dad?”

“He… there’s hunters _everywhere_ , Lou,” Liam says brokenly.

“Shit.” She’s torn. Torn between staying with her mum and going to find the other members of the pack. A howl in the distance seals the deal for her. “Take Mum to Harry.”

“Louis,” Jay says. “Be careful.” She groans, a hand on her belly. Louis gives Liam a panicked look, but Liam just picks Jay up with ease and carries her away.

Louis wastes no time racing into the woods. She can hear the grunts and groans and distinct noises of a fight happening. Her body reacts before her mind can even catch up. She’s fast. Faster than she’s ever been in her life. Bodies of hunters drop to the floor as she knocks them out. Uncle Nate is in his full wolf form, ripping out the throat of one hunter. Another one is about to shoot him in the back when Louis tackles him to the ground. She punches hard, dodges faster, and makes quick work of knocking them unconscious. She doesn’t have time to worry about the damage she’s inflicting, not when these hunters trapped her family and tried to burn them alive.

She can feel magic crackling in the air. Auntie Ashley has two hunters bound to a tree, her hands glowing. Louis spares her a nod before carrying on. 

A hunter’s arrow whistles passed her ear. She ducks, rounds on him and tackles him to the ground. She feels blood on her hands, but she doesn’t know whose it is. She hears a distinct howl.

“Dad,” she mutters. 

The scene before her unfolds in slow motion. She sees the knife. She can smell the wolfsbane coating it. The knife sails through the air, swiping. It hits its target. 

“Dad!” she screams. 

Louis’ vision shakes. She’s on the hunter not even a second later, but he’s fast. He swipes at her with his knife. She dodges it. Louis can’t see his face, but she hates him, whoever he is. 

An arrow pierces her shoulder blade, giving the hunter who attacked her dad enough time to get away. She screams out. The hunter throws her off him and shoots her with a bullet. Thankfully not laced with wolfsbane, but it still makes her pause. She dives behind a tree, panting. She flicks out her claws, digs the bullet out of her shoulder and breathes a sigh of relief as it instantly heals. Reaching the arrow still stuck in the back of her shoulder blade is another story. She grunts and finally gets it. 

Then she sees it. Her dad’s body is just lying there.

“Dad!” she cries. She scrambles to his side. Blood pulses from the wound in his stomach. Her hands cover it, trying to apply pressure. “Dad.” She lets out a broken sob.

“Hey boo bear,” he says softly. His face is deathly pale, making the blood staining his lips stand out in stark contrast. “I’m sorry.”

“Dad, no,” she says, her voice thick with emotion. Tears spill over her eyes. Her hands shake on his stomach. “Please… please. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.” His words slur. His breathing is growing shallower and Louis sobs. 

“I’m sorry. I love you. I love you so much.” 

Her tears hit his skin as she leans over and kisses his head. He coughs. Something warm hits her cheek. She knows it’s his blood without even looking at it.

“Tell your mum–”

“Dad?” She shakes his shoulder. “Dad? Dad!” His heart stops beating. 

Louis lets out an almighty howl. 

Another arrow lodges itself in Louis’ lower back. She rips it from her body, throwing it to the side. Before the hunter even has time to load his bow again, she’s on him. She knocks his head hard against the ground, rendering him unconscious. 

She moves before she knows it. She can smell the wolfsbane, the mountain ash. She can smell the gun oil that clings to the guns in their holsters. She can smell the electricity from their Tasers. And that’s how she tracks them.

One by one, she tracks the hunters. There are only three of them left, her uncles and auntie having taken care of the rest. 

There’s a man standing just outside the line of the woods. His stance is familiar. She cocks her head to the side and sniffs. He smells familiar, too. Then again, all of the hunters smell familiar tonight. 

“Yeah, I got him,” the hunter says to a pal of his. “The alpha bitch will feel the loss of her mate and will go mad with it.”

Louis walks towards them. 

Just as she reaches them, Uncle Nate tackles the hunter’s friend to the ground. The hunter who spoke mutters ‘shit’ and he tries to load his bow. Louis tackles him to the ground, too. 

Once she has him pinned to the ground, she realises that it’s Harry’s Uncle Richie.

“ _You_ ,” she all but growls.

It’s enough of a distraction that Richie’s fist connects with her face. She falls backwards and Richie is on her in a second, pinning her to the ground with all of his weight.

“You know,” he says conversationally. “Thank you _so much_ for telling Harry absolutely _everything_ that I needed to know about your family. It made for taking them out so much easier.”

Rage fills Louis’ blood.

“Harry doesn’t know, of course,” Richie says. “The stupid kid thinks that werewolves are _cool_. But I know what you are. You’re monsters. Every single one of you. Feral dogs that need to be put down.

“I knew the second I saw you what you were,” he continues. Louis realises that he’s saying all of this because he thinks that he’s going to kill her. “I just knew it. That’s why I planted the bug in Harry’s room. She never suspected a _thing_. And tonight was just _perfect_ , really. It was so easy to trap everyone. To kill you all. The ambulance officers are hunters, too. I bet they’re getting those pups out of your mum right about now. Then we’re going to kill them in front of her.”

_Mum_ , Louis thinks desperately.

She knocks him back. Rage fills Louis’ vision. She roars in his face. He looks shaken, like he wasn’t expecting her to fight back. Clearly, he was wrong.

“Uncle Richie?”

Harry’s voice distracts them both. Richie throws Louis off him. She lands with a thud. 

“Harry, there’s no need for you to see this,” he says, his voice saccharine sweet. It makes Louis’ stomach curdle.

“What are you doing?” Harry asks. Louis wants to tell her to get away from here, to go, to be safe. She doesn’t want Harry being any part of this. 

“Hunting,” Richie replies with ease, a smirk on his face like he’s the cat who got the cream.

His knife glints in the darkness surrounding them. The fire has mostly been put out, but Louis can see that the house is in shambles. Louis is on her feet before Richie can even swing the wolfsbane coated knife in her direction. She knows that if it hits her, she won’t have long before she ends up just like her dad. 

_Dad_ , she thinks miserably. She left his body in the woods. 

Her distraction is all Richie needs to swing the knife in her direction. She barely dodges it in time. They trade blows, moving faster than Louis thinks any human has the right to move. He’s trained, skilled. But so is she.

Louis’ claws swipe at his arm and he staggers backwards. She kicks him square in the chest. Harry’s gasp is audible over the pounding of Louis’ heart in her ears. She hates that Harry is still there, watching them.

“Harry, please leave,” she begs, looking over at her girlfriend, taking in the horror written all over Harry’s face. “Please.” 

Richie moves before Louis can blink, using her distraction to his advantage. He has her by her hair, holding her neck back. The blade is pressing against her throat. One move and she’ll be gone. Dead. Just like her dad. 

“Any last words?” he teases. The blade presses harder.

“Stop!” Harry cries out. She’s closer now, having approached them without either of them realising it. Louis takes her chance with Richie’s distraction. She grabs the hand holding the knife, turns and plunges it into Richie’s chest. It won’t have the same effect on him as it would have on her, but a knife to the chest is still a knife to the chest. Harry cries out. Louis watches the life leave Richie’s eyes.

“What did you do?” Harry cries. “Louis!”

“He killed my dad,” Louis replies. “He wanted to kill us all. Including mum. Shit. _Mum_.”

She makes a break for it, racing to the ambulance that is sitting in the driveway. 

“Li!” she calls out. “Liam!”

“Lou!” 

“Liam, where’s Mum?” she asks, panicked. 

“She’s been taken to the hospital already,” Liam replies. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re hunters. The ambulance officers were hunters.”

“Shit.” 

Louis can hear Harry calling out her name, but she can’t right now. She just _can’t_. Not while her mum’s life is still in danger. Not while their pack is still in danger. 

She does the hardest thing she’s ever had to do in her life – she turns her back on her mate.

~*~


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has mature content.
> 
> Thanks to Emma for the beta and the Brit-pick!  
> And thanks to Leah and Mar for the cheerleading - you're all angels! ♥
> 
> MASSIVE thank yous to everyone who has read this, left kudos, and commented. You are all so wonderful, and I can't thank you enough. ♥♥♥

Hospitals smell awful to Louis. Their scent is too overpowering. Too _much_ and she never enjoys them.

There’s blood on her hands still. She thinks it’s mostly her dad’s blood. But she can’t be sure.

Liam passes her a cup of tea. Louis’ hands shake as she accepts it.

“I just spoke to the doctor,” she says softly. “Mum and the twins are doing fine.”

Relief floods Louis’ body. She closes her eyes. 

Richie lied. 

The ambulance workers weren’t hunters. But the threat was still real. Louis had no way of knowing if her mum was in severe danger or not. She did the right thing. Her heart still aches from leaving Harry the way she did, but she had to do what she had to do.

The tea scalds Louis’ tongue. She barely flinches.

“Are you alright?” Liam asks. “Stupid question. Sorry.”

“Have you seen Harry?” Louis asks. “I… I need to see her.”

Liam shakes her head. “No, I haven’t. Do you want me to call her?”

“I’ll do it.” She reaches for her phone, but it isn’t in her pocket. She must have left it at Harry’s in her haste to get home. She sighs. Wordlessly, Liam passes Louis her phone. She punches in Harry’s number and presses call. It rings out. She leaves a voicemail message, and hopes beyond all hope that Harry doesn’t hate her.

“Lou,” Liam says softly. 

“I… I can’t Liam.” She can’t look Liam in the eyes. She can’t hear the kind words her sister undoubtedly has on the end of her tongue, waiting for the right moment to say them. She can’t stop feeling guilty for leaving Harry the way she did.

“I need to find her.”

She gets up, ignores Liam’s protests, and makes it halfway down the corridor when Liam catches up to her.

“Lou…”

Louis shakes her head. “I _can’t_ ,” she whispers. Liam’s arms wrap tightly around Louis’ body. She sags into her embrace. She can smell smoke and ash on her clothes. It clings to her skin. They both need to shower. 

Louis will never be able to wash tonight off her. Not completely.

They sit back down.

The police have come and gone. Louis recounted finding the house on fire, the men that did it, and carefully left out the fact that she and her entire family were werewolves. She knows they have allies on the police force, but she can’t trust anyone right now. Not after what Richie said. Not after he goaded her into believing that her mum was in danger just so he could get the upper hand.

Tears prick the backs of her eyes. 

“I need to find Harry,” she insists. 

“Okay,” Liam replies. “I’ll drive you.”

Louis starts to shake her head, then she nods. She isn’t in any state to drive right now.

They make their way down to the ground floor, and Louis’ hit with a scent of familiarity. There’s Harry, standing at the reception desk, practically begging the woman behind the counter to tell her where Jay Tomlinson is.

“Harry,” Louis breathes.

Harry looks up. “Lou!” 

They crash together. Louis clings onto Harry tightly. 

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers over and over again. “I’m so sorry.”

“C’mon, you’re causing a scene,” Liam says. She guides them both back to the lifts and they make their way back to the maternity ward they had just left.

“Are you okay?” Harry asks. They sit down and guilt floods Louis’ veins all over again. 

“Are _you_ okay?” Louis asks. She’s petrified of the answer. She can’t really look at Harry right now. Not after what she did.

“I was so worried about you,” Harry says. She’s clinging to Louis like she never wants to let go. It’s hard to think just hours ago they were sleeping next to each other. 

“I…” Louis pulls back from Harry’s embrace. “I’m so sorry for leaving you. For… For…” she turns her head, looking at the floor.

“I didn’t know that Uncle Richie was a hunter,” Harry says in a rush. “You have to believe me.”

Louis nods. “I know,” she replies. “I…” She swallows thickly. “I never doubted that for a second.”

Harry makes a sound of relief. “What happened?” she asks, hesitation lacing her voice. 

“I can’t tell you here,” Louis whispers. “This isn’t the right place.”

“Okay,” Harry nods. “Later. When we’re alone.”

Louis nods. She still hasn’t looked Harry in the eye. She can’t bring herself to. Not when Harry’s voice rings in her head asking ‘what did you do?’. 

Their family books into a hotel. Louis doesn’t leave her mum’s side, refusing to. She needs to stay at the hospital, to protect her mum, to protect her alpha. Despite Liam telling her that it was safe now, she can’t leave. 

She watches her mum sleep. She has no idea how her mum is even functioning right now. She lost her mate, gave birth to twins, and was almost murdered in the space of a few hours. Louis is at her wits end and she didn’t even experience half the stuff her mum did.

“Poppet,” Jay’s voice startles Louis awake. Her gaze darts around, immediately taking in her surroundings. “Lou, darling. We’re safe here.”

Louis shakes her head. “We’re not safe,” she says. “There are hunters everywhere.”

“No, there aren’t,” Jay replies. “Come here.” She holds her arms open to Louis, and Louis is helpless but to sink into them. She’s careful of the tubes coming from her mum’s arm, and even though she knows her mum’s body is completely healed already, she’s careful of jostling her too much.

“Liam told me what you did.”

Those six words break the dam. She cries into her mum’s hospital gown, soaking it through within minutes. She can’t get a breath in. She feels like she’s suffocating. Jay’s hands cup her face and force her to look up at her. It’s the first time she’s met anyone’s gaze all night.

Jay’s eyes flash red and Louis automatically flash blue. 

“I love you,” Jay says, stroking her thumbs underneath Louis’ eyes, wiping away her tears. 

“H-how are you okay right now?” she asks brokenly.

Jay gives her a sad smile. “I’m far from okay,” she says honestly. “It’s been a hell of a night.”

Louis makes a wounded noise. She lies her head back on her mum’s shoulder. Jay laces their fingers together.

“We’ll heal, Louis. We’ll heal.”

But there will still be fractures.

~*~

It’s a few days before Louis stops jumping at shadows.

She spends her nights in Liam’s arms, and her days by her mum’s side. The hotel they’re in is cramped, and smells of too many other people, but their pack is together, and that’s what matters. What’s left of their pack, at least.

Going to school isn’t a priority for Louis right now. Not when her life is literally in shambles. She and Liam are the ones who stay off school, making sure that the others go. Their sisters need the routine and normalcy. Louis needs it, too, but she can’t bring herself to care about school right now. It will still be there when she decides to go back.

Jay isn’t happy with her choice, though, but Louis knows that her mum is relieved to have Louis around, helping with the twins – both sets of them, but especially the babies.

It’s a few days after her mum is released from hospital that Louis finds herself on Harry’s front porch, her hand in the air, finger extended to push the doorbell. She can’t bring herself to do it, though. 

She and Harry have texted since that night, and had an occasional phone call, but Louis has just been so wrapped up in everything else – in grieving the loss of her dad, her home, and her innocence that she’s hardly had time to think of Harry.

That’s a lie. 

She hasn’t stopped thinking about Harry. About what Richie had said. About how Harry had given him all of the information that he needed to take out Louis’ pack.

Which is how she knows that she needs to push that god damned doorbell and face the music. Face Harry and her family knowing that she murdered Richie. 

“You’ve been standing there for a while,” Harry says as she opens the door. Louis hasn’t even pushed the doorbell yet. She lowers her hand. “I thought you were going to leave without even coming in.”

“I thought about it,” Louis admits. She doesn’t miss the hurt look that crosses Harry’s expression.

“My parents are home,” Harry says, opening the door wider. Louis forces her feet to walk inside. She automatically toes her shoes off, leaving them on the rack with the others. 

“We need to talk.”

Harry’s face crumples. “You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?”

“What? No!” Louis exclaims. Her face goes through a series of complex emotions. “I just. We really need to talk. But first, can you remove all electrical items from your room?”

Harry cocks her head, clearly confused, but she nods. “Mum and Dad are in the kitchen. They want to see you. They want to know how you are.”

Louis swallows thickly. She nods. She can’t escape this. Not now. Not now that she’s actually in their house. She wonders if Anne and Robin know what she did. If they hate her for it. If they want to bind her with mountain ash and burn her alive.

She doesn’t want to believe that. She doesn’t want to believe that Harry’s parents could be capable of that, but she’s weary and cagey. She can’t help it. Her nerves are frayed. She’s a livewire waiting to explode.

She takes a deep breath and nods again. Harry disappears up the stairs and Louis opens the kitchen door. Anne is sitting at the table, the crossword from that day’s newspaper in front of her. Robin is at the stove, wearing his “Kiss the cook” apron that Louis knows Harry bought for him for Father’s Day last year. 

“Louis!” Anne exclaims. 

Before she knows it, Anne is wrapping Louis in a tight hug. She hugs like a mother does, Louis notices. She sinks into the embrace.

“How are you, love?” Anne asks as she pulls back, cupping Louis’ face in her hands. Her gaze roams over Louis’ face, searching for something. Louis isn’t sure _what_ , but she doesn’t know if Anne finds it. “How are Jay and the twins?”

Louis nods, breaking the contact between herself and Anne. “They’re good. Well. Healthy. Mum is fine. Um. The twins are fine. A boy and a girl. I don’t know if Harry told you?”

Anne nods. “She did. But how are you? You look tired, love.”

Louis drops her gaze to the tiled floor. “Y-yeah. I’m a bit tired. I’m. Yeah.” She sighs. She doesn’t know how to do this.

Robin’s voice startles her. “I didn’t know that Richie was hunting werewolves.”

Louis’ head snaps up, meeting Robin’s gaze. Her heart thuds in her chest. They _know_.

He sets the wooden stirring spoon in his hand down on the sink and dusts his hands on his apron. “Richie fell in with a few people just before I retired,” Robin continues. “I didn’t realise they were werewolf hunters. Otherwise I never would’ve let him buy me out.” Robin sighs. Louis wasn’t expecting this _at all_.

Anne presses a hot cup into Louis’ hands. She didn’t even notice Anne making tea, but there’s a steaming cup in her hands, warming her skin. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

Hesitantly, Louis brings the cup to her lips. She takes a sniff. She doesn’t smell anything off. She immediately hates herself for thinking that Anne or Robin would poison her. 

“Take a seat, sweetheart,” Anne says, sitting back down in her spot. “I hope you don’t mind that Harry told us everything?”

“I’d be lying if I said I was happy about it,” Louis admits. She chews on her bottom lip for a moment, setting her cup down on the table. “But I get it. I just… Friday night was a lot.”

Silence falls over them. 

So they know everything. 

Louis’ skin prickles uncomfortably. Anne and Robin know that she’s a werewolf – that she comes from a family of werewolves. Do they know that Harry is her mate? Do they know that she killed Richie because he killed her dad? She can’t be certain. Surely they wouldn’t want a murderer sitting at their kitchen table drinking their tea if they did?

“You look like you’re about to cry,” Anne says softly. Her hand reaches across the table and Louis snatches hers back before they can make contact.

“What else do you know?” she asks, her voice a whisper.

Anne and Robin share a look. 

“We know that the police ruled it as self-defence,” Anne says. “Like I said – Harry told us everything. She witnessed a lot. And we’re her parents. She needed to tell us.”

Louis nods dumbly. 

So they know she’s a killer. 

The door opens and Harry steps into the kitchen. She smells wonderful. Louis glances up at her. She looks tired. She didn’t notice that before, but she can see it now – the dark smudges under Harry’s eyes, indicating just how little sleep she must be getting. Her face is paler than usual, too, and not supporting the healthy glow that it usually adorns. Louis’ heart aches in her chest. She did that. She made Harry this way.

“Can we go to my room?” Harry asks, her hand falling to rest on Louis’ shoulder.

Anne nods. “Door stays open, please.”

Harry takes Louis’ hand in hers. She stops to kiss both of her parents on their cheeks before leading Louis upstairs. She pushes the door over until there’s only a crack left open.

“All of my electronics are in the spare room,” Harry says. “What did you need me to do that for?”

“Your uncle planted a bug in your room,” Louis replies. “I just need to concentrate for a moment and I’ll be able to find it.” She closes her eyes. She feels the tiredness settling in her bones. 

It takes a few minutes before she can get her senses to focus properly. Her powers have been… a little out of it since Friday night. But eventually she can hear a tiny, faint electrical hum of a bug that Richie had planted. Her eyes open and focus on the succulent that Richie had given Harry as a gift. Louis crosses the room and picks up the pot. She turns it in her hands, running her fingers over the smooth clay. She digs her fingers into the soil, trying to find it. And then, her finger brushes against the underside of a thick, heavy leaf, where there’s a bug stuck to it. She prises it free and holds it up for Harry to see.

Harry gasps. Her hand goes to her mouth. Louis crushes the thing in her hand. It breaks and she shoves it into the bin. The hum has gone.

Tears pool in Harry’s eyes. She sits down heavily on her bed and sobs, her face in her hands.

Louis joins her. She doesn’t know what to do here. It’s all so different from the other night at the hospital when they were running on pure adrenaline and desperate to see each other. 

Now this thing hangs between them. The knowledge that Richie betrayed Harry’s trust. That he used her. That Louis killed him.

“It’s all my fault,” Harry sobs brokenly. “We… We talked about _everything_ in here. I gave him everything! He knew about the wards that Zayn and Ashley had put up, he knew about Zayn’s psychic abilities and how she and Daisy shared a dream! He knew it _all_ , Louis.”

If it were possible – Louis would swear that she could hear Harry’s heart breaking in her chest.

She manoeuvres them so she’s hugging Harry, letting Harry cling to her, soaking her shirt through in seconds. She cries, too. She cries because her heart hurts. Because her mate is hurting. Because everything _sucks_ and she can’t fix it.

Eventually, Harry’s sobs die down. She plucks a few tissues from the box sitting on her bedside drawers and she blows her nose loudly. 

“I don’t blame you,” Louis says when Harry’s finished. “I blame him. I blame him completely.”

“How can you look at me right now?” Harry asks. Her eyes are red, puffy, and her expression so hurt and broken. Louis pulls her back into her arms.

“How can you look at me?” Louis whispers. “I killed him.”

“He deserved it.”

Louis pulls back, blinking at Harry. “What?”

“He deserved it,” Harry repeats firmly. “Liam told me what happened. With everyone being trapped. He did that. My uncle _did that_. This was all planned. He wanted you all dead. And he trapped _kids_. I… And I told him that everyone was going to be home.” Her face falls again. Her hand slips from Louis’ grasp. “It’s my fault, too.”

Louis shakes her head. “It isn’t,” she says emphatically. “It isn’t. Harry. Please, love. It isn’t.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t know he was a hunter,” Harry says. “I… I’m just. I’m so sorry.” Their lips meet. It’s a horribly messy, wet kiss, but it’s the first time since the hospital that Harry has kissed her, so Louis will take it. 

“It’s not your fault,” Louis says, whispering against Harry’s lips. They part. She can see how utterly broken Harry is by this. She feels exactly the same. 

Harry takes a shaky breath. “I can’t believe that he _bugged_ my room. That’s so gross. I’ve masturbated in here! He probably heard all of that!” She looks nauseated by that fact. Louis is having a hard time wrapping her head around that, too. 

Wordlessly, Louis passes Harry her water and she takes a few long sips. They settle back onto the bed together, facing each other. Harry’s hand seeks out Louis’ own, lacing their fingers together.

“So we agree?” Harry starts with a whisper. “Neither of us are to blame?”

Louis ducks her head and closes her eyes. She can’t believe that. She isn’t there yet. 

“ _Neither of us are to blame_ ,” Harry repeats, her tone hard, leaving no room for argument. Louis’ eyes automatically flash blue. Harry gasps. Her hands come up to cup Louis’ face.

“These are the eyes of a killer,” Louis says quietly. “I _am_ to blame.”

“These are beautiful eyes,” Harry says, her voice still hard. “And I will spend _forever_ telling you so.”

The thing is, Louis believes her.

~*~

Everything is hard.

She leaves Harry’s and wanders back to her house without even thinking about it. Her feet automatically lead her there. 

She stands outside of the ruins of her family home. Her heart is heavy in her chest. It still smells overwhelmingly of fire and ash. It’s singed into Louis’ senses.

The ground crunches under her shoes. It’s snowed overnight. White flakes stick to the burned out husk of her home. It’s a stark comparison to the blackened walls. There’s shards of glass on the ground from where Louis broke windows to get her family out.

If she closes her eyes, she can still hear their panicked screams. 

Her skin itches. She needs to run. She needs to get out of these clothes and let her wolf take over and just _run_.

She finds a spot to undress and closes her eyes.

But nothing happens.

She looks down at her hands. Her claws haven’t even come out. She slams her eyes shut again and concentrates with her entire being. She remembers exactly what it’s like to be a wolf. To feel the things a wolf feels. To feel her paws on the forest floor, the leaves crunching under them as she runs.

But even pulling up all of those memories still leaves Louis completely human. And entirely naked in the woods. 

Frustrated doesn’t even begin to cover how she feels as she hastily pulls her clothes back on. 

Louis huffs. She scrubs her hands over her face and runs them through her hair, regretting not having a hair tie with her.

She sighs heavily. Something catches her gaze.

As she approaches, she can smell blood. It smells old – so it’s definitely not new enough for whatever it was to still be out here.

Then she realises that she recognises that scent and promptly throws up. 

She hates that she didn’t even recognise the spot where her dad was murdered. She throws up again.

Louis stumbles through the woods, trying to get as far away from that spot as possible.

She crashes into trees, feeling their harsh branches scraping at her skin. The wounds heal automatically, but the pain is still real.

Eventually she stops. She has no idea where she is. Or how far away from… from _that_ area that she is but she’s far enough away that the smells out here are mostly just nature ones.

Louis sits against a tree trunk, her hands shaking. She takes a shaky breath, squeezing her eyes shut. She can’t lose it out here. She just can’t. She can’t force anyone in her family to come out here and look for her. It wouldn’t be fair. 

“It gets easier.”

Louis’ gaze snaps up. She sees Liam standing in front of her. She blinks, wondering where her sister even came from. 

Liam’s eyes flash blue at Louis and Louis ducks her head. 

“I know exactly what you’re going through,” Liam says, squatting in front of her. Her hands rest on Louis’. Their fingers lace together and Liam kisses the back of Louis’ hands. The same hands that killed someone. 

“You protected your pack,” Liam continues. “You protected everyone. You saved us all, Louis. We would _all_ be dead if you hadn’t come when you did.”

Louis blinks back tears. She takes her hands from Liam’s and shoves them under her armpits.

“Dad would be proud of you.”

Her face crumples. Liam pulls her close and Louis cries. She cries and cries and cries.

~*~

The funeral is on a Wednesday.

Liam holds her hand the entire time.

She sees Niall and Zayn afterwards. 

“I didn’t see it coming,” Zayn says, sounding heartbroken. “What’s the use of being psychic if I didn’t see this coming?”

Louis pulls Zayn into her arms. “He knew everything. He played with your blind spots.”

It’s odd to be the one holding someone else who’s crying, but Louis holds Zayn close. She tells her over and over and over again that it isn’t her fault. She hopes Zayn believes it.

The manor is beyond repair. 

“We’ll build a new one,” Jay says with finality. “We have a big property, we can build a new one. A better one.”

It gives Louis a flicker of hope.

It doesn’t stop Louis from waking up in the middle of the night, feeling like there is smoke in her lungs and that she can’t get to her family in time. Thankfully, Liam is there. She spends most of her nights waking Liam up with her nightmares, but Liam never complains. She just holds Louis until her body stops shaking and her pulse stops racing, until she can feel that she’s breathing in clean, fresh air.

After two weeks at the hotel, Jay moves them into a rental property. It’s a tight fit, but they’re together, and that’s what counts. Louis won’t admit it to anyone else, but she likes being able to hear them all. She likes being in close proximity to each of her family members and knowing that they’re safe. 

One afternoon, Louis finds herself on their property. It’s the first time since shortly after the fire. If she concentrates hard enough, she can still smell the smoke from that night. 

The house has been demolished already. Jay wanted to get work started on it straight away so that they could move in as soon as possible. 

It’s hard standing there, staring at what was once her family home. 

Just five feet away is where she murdered someone. And in the woods to her right is where her dad died. It makes her heart ache in her chest.

She still isn’t able to change into a wolf. Something is blocking her powers. _She_ is blocking her powers. She knows it’s nothing metaphysical, it’s her. She’s scared to become the wolf again. Scared of losing control. Just _scared_.

“Thought I’d find you here.”

Louis looks up. Liam gives her a hesitant smile but closes the distance between them.

“It looks different without a house there, doesn’t it?” 

Louis nods. Liam’s hand slips into her own. She squeezes twice. Louis squeezes back once. 

“Mum says that construction is going to start next week,” Liam says, filling the silence. “The bank still had the blueprints from the manor, so she’s letting them go from that. Just with a few differences.”

“I still don’t get how they got passed Auntie Ashley’s wards,” Louis says. She knows that Richie knew about them, but she thought they could only be broken by magic. It’s been bugging her for a while now. “She and Zayn worked on them _so hard_ and yet they were able to just blow straight passed them.”

“They watched us for weeks,” Liam replies. “For _weeks_. They knew where the wards were, how to find and disable them.”

Louis sighs. She sighs a lot these days. “I wish I could kill him again.”

“No you don’t,” Liam says softly.

“Yes, I do.” There’s a steely resolve to Louis’ voice that she knows Liam will be able to hear. To understand. “They targeted us. _Just because_. We lost our dad. That… That’s the second dad you’ve lost, Liam.”

“I know it is,” Liam replies. “And I’m _pissed_ about it. I’m hurt. Because Dad and I were just getting along again. And that was taken away from me!”

“I hated him so much, Li,” Louis whispers brokenly. “When he was lying there, all I wanted was for him to hold me again and tell me that everything was going to be alright. But he died. He _died_ and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

She cries again. Cries for the constant hurt in her chest. Cries for the love lost between her and her dad. Cries for the chance they’ll never get again. Cries and cries. Liam holds her the entire time.

~*~

By the time the house is finished, Doris and Ernest are six months old.

Louis doesn’t wake up from nightmares as often anymore, but every now and then, she wakes up in a cold sweat with smoke burning in her lungs.

She started seeing a therapist a few weeks after the fire. Uncle Nate had found someone who was familiar with werewolves and the supernatural so that Louis was able to talk freely. She doesn’t know how she would be able to talk to a therapist otherwise. But she’s coping. And that’s what she cares about.

It took two months of weekly therapy for Louis to be able to transform into a full wolf again. When it happened, she stayed like that for the entire day. She feels free as a wolf, and it’s something she had missed dearly. But therapy helped her find that part of herself again. 

She still isn’t used to having blue eyes yet, but every time she sees Liam flash her eyes at Louis, she feels a little better. Liam was the only one in their family who had blue eyes for such a long time. Now she’s not. 

It’s finally moving day, and Louis is forever grateful for her werewolf strength as she carries boxes upon boxes inside. 

The manor has been rebuilt from scratch, but it’s better. Different. Louis isn’t sure any of them could’ve handled moving into a place that looked exactly like their old one.

Auntie Ashley worked with Zayn and the construction workers to ward every single wall built. They were never going to suffer an attack like that ever again if it could be helped.

The house still smells like magic when Louis walks in. It’s comforting. The old manor never smelled like that. It had been standing for far too long to still smell like residual magic. But this tingles her nose in the strangest of ways.

“Where do you want this?” Harry asks, stepping into the lounge room with a box. 

“Just put it down over there,” Louis says, pointing towards one of the walls. 

Harry stands and wipes her brow with the back of her hand. She looks impossibly cute in her short-length dungarees and her hair in bunches. Louis can’t help but kiss her.

“Oi, stop canoodling and keep working!” Liam teases as she steps into the house, carrying an armchair by herself. 

“Alright,” Louis says, pulling back from Harry.

It takes a few hours, but soon, they have all of the furniture in the house, the beds assembled, and an entire pack of very tired and _very_ hungry people.

“I brought food!” Niall sings out. “Any werewolves want to give us a hand?”

Liam is up before Louis can even put a foot on the ground. 

Their dining table is soon covered with various boxes holding all kinds of delicious smelling foods. Louis helps herself to whatever her hands touch. She’s absolutely ravenous after all of the hard work she’s done today. 

The chatter of her family washes over her as she eats. She’s missed this. While they were all still living together before, _this_ feels like home. She chews on her mouthful of food and catches Liam’s gaze across the table. She smiles at Liam and Liam beams at her. 

The doorbell rings as they’re cleaning up from dinner and Liam’s out of her seat before anyone else can think to move.

“Hi, sorry I’m late,” Sophia says. She wanders in carrying several pink boxes that smell extremely sweet to Louis’ nose. She and Liam share a quick kiss and it makes Louis grin. “I thought I’d bring in dessert. I hope that’s okay?”

“That’s sweet of you, Sophia,” Jay says. “Come have a seat.”

Sophia sets the boxes on the table and Louis quickly grabs one, opening it up.

“ _Soph_ ,” she says. “Look if things ever fall through with Liam, hit a girl up.”

Both Liam and Harry squawk indignantly and Louis just laughs. The pastries are all dished out, everyone enjoying the sweet treats. 

Louis munches on her second doughnut when Harry nudges her shoulder. She nods and gets up, following Harry to her new bedroom. The bed is still unmade, but they settle on the bare mattress, their knees knocking together.

“So I’ve been giving it a lot of thought,” Harry begins, picking at the doughnut still in Louis’ hand. She pops a bit of the icing into her mouth. “I want your mum to give me the Bite.”

Louis pauses with the doughnut half way to her mouth. She turns to face her girlfriend, eyes wide. “Yeah?”

Harry nods. “Yeah,” she replies. “We’re starting the summer holidays, and I think it’s the perfect time. That way I’ll have some semblance of control by the time we start back at school again.”

Louis grins. She leans over and kisses Harry soundly on the lips. “You, my love, are going to make an _incredible_ werewolf.”

**Author's Note:**

> please kudos and leave a comment if you read and liked this.
> 
> fic **[masterpost](https://star55.tumblr.com/post/186106665366)** on my tumblr.


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